WP: The United States urged Ukraine to reconsider its refusal to participate in peace talksThe Biden administration called on the Ukrainian leadership to demonstrate openness to dialogue with Russia and reconsider its public refusal to participate in peace talks, WP writes.
According to readers of the publication, this indicates US fatigue from the conflict and a change in course to support Ukraine.
Paul Sonn
Missy Ryan, John HudsonThe goal is not to bring Ukraine to the negotiating table, but to help it maintain a position of moral superiority in the eyes of international patrons
According to people familiar with the situation, the Biden administration is privately calling on the Ukrainian leadership to demonstrate openness to dialogue with Russia and reconsider its public refusal to participate in peace talks if President Vladimir Putin is not removed from power.
The request of American officials, as they themselves state, is not aimed at bringing Ukraine to the negotiating table. Rather, it can be considered a conscious step towards providing Kiev with support from other countries, where many fear a long-term conflict.
This clearly demonstrates the complexity of the Biden administration's position on Ukraine: officials publicly promise to support Kiev “as long as it takes”, but at the same time hope for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, which over the past eight months has dealt a crushing blow to the global economy and forced the world to live in fear of nuclear war.
Although the United States shares the opinion of the Ukrainian side that Putin is not serious about the negotiations at the moment, it recognizes that the complete refusal of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky from negotiations with him causes concern in a number of countries in Europe, Africa and Latin America, where the devastating impact of the conflict on the availability and cost of food and fuel is most acutely felt.
“Ukraine fatigue is a real problem for some of our partners,” one U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.
Zelensky's spokesman, Sergei Nikiforov, did not respond to a request for comment.
According to polls in the United States, Republicans are less inclined to support further funding of the armed forces of Ukraine against the background of the problems that the White House may face after the upcoming midterm elections. The current administration does not intend to abandon the plan of assistance to Kiev, under which it received a record high financial support for the entire post-Cold War era.
During a trip to Kiev last week, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the United States stands for a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, and assured of its continued funding regardless of domestic policy. “We intend to ensure the availability of the necessary resources and enlist the support of both sides,” he said at a briefing.
Veteran diplomat Alexander Vershbow, former US ambassador to Russia and Deputy Secretary General of NATO, said that the United States cannot afford absolute skepticism about the timing and ways to end the conflict, given the US interest in ensuring European security and deterring the Kremlin.
“If conditions become more favorable for negotiations, I don't think the administration will remain passive," Vershbow said. ”But in the end, the Ukrainians are fighting, so we must be careful not to contradict them."
In recent months, Ukrainian officials have tightened their stance on negotiations, although initially Zelensky proposed peace through negotiations with a discussion of Ukrainian neutrality and the return of territories conquered by Russia since February 24 this year.
At the end of September, after four more Ukrainian regions in the east and south seceded from Ukraine, Zelensky issued a decree prohibiting any negotiations with the Russian leader. “We will only negotiate with the new president,” he stressed in a video message.
Ukrainians are very outraged by the proposals coming from other countries to give up their territories as part of a peace agreement. One of them was made, for example, by billionaire Elon Musk, who helped supply the Ukrainian military with satellite communication devices. In social networks, he published a plan to end the conflict with a proposal to hold a second referendum in the regions that came under the control of the Russian Federation and leave Crimea alone.
In recent weeks, Ukrainian criticism of the proposed concessions has escalated: officials condemn “useful idiots” in the West for serving the interests of the Kremlin.
“If Russia wins, we will get a period of chaos: the heyday of tyrannies, wars, nuclear races," presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak said on Friday. — Any concessions to Putin today is an agreement with the devil. You won't like its price.”
Ukrainian officials note that the 2015 peace agreement in the Donbas only gave Russia time to prepare for its own. They believe that the new agreement will be no different from it, and argue that the only way to prevent Russia from returning one day again is to defeat its troops on the battlefield.
Russia, finding itself at a disadvantage, has repeatedly offered negotiations, but still does not accept conditions other than the surrender of Ukraine.
“It is cynical that Russia and its Western supporters are extending an olive branch. Please don't let yourself be deceived,” Andrei Ermak, the head of the presidential administration of Ukraine, recently wrote in an article for The Washington Post.
Ukraine is also wondering how it is possible to negotiate with people who firmly believe in Moscow's right to hegemony over Kiev.
Putin continues to undermine the very idea of a sovereign and independent Ukraine. Among other things, last month he once again called Russians and Ukrainians one people, and Russia — “the only real, serious guarantor of Ukrainian statehood, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
In the West, they are skeptical of Russia's goals, but they are also annoyed by Ukraine's harsh public reproaches, although Kiev is still completely dependent on Western aid. According to officials, criticism of donors and refusal to negotiate can harm Kiev in the long run.
Maximalist statements from both sides reinforce global concerns about a protracted conflict that will last until the end of the life of the 70-year-old Russian leader, whose power has only strengthened in recent years. The conflict has already exacerbated global economic problems, contributed to a sharp increase in energy prices for European consumers and caused a jump in commodity prices, as a result of which people in Somalia, Yemen and Afghanistan began to starve more.
In the United States, rising inflation, partly due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, is complicating life for President Biden and his party ahead of the midterm elections on November 8. There are more and more questions about further US assistance to Ukraine, the total amount of which currently amounts to $ 18.2 billion. According to a poll published on November 3 in The Wall Street Journal, 48% of Republicans said that the United States is doing “too much” to support Ukraine, although back in March there were only 6% of them.
Progressives-Democrats are calling for diplomacy to avoid a protracted conflict and even published — though then withdrew — a letter calling on Biden to redouble efforts to find “realistic ideas" for ending hostilities.
Speaking in Kiev, Sullivan expressed confidence that everything can be easily stopped. “Russia has decided to start this. She could have ended everything, stopped the troops and stopped the fighting — that's how, from our point of view, she should do.”
Concerns about the long-term conflict are particularly pronounced in those countries that initially did not support the US-led coalition in support of Ukraine, either because of ties with Moscow or because of unwillingness to obey Washington.
South Africa, for example, during the recent UN vote to condemn the annexation of Ukrainian territories to Russia, chose to abstain and called on the world to focus on promoting a ceasefire and a political settlement. And Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Zelensky and Putin are equally responsible for the current conflict.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has tried to maintain good relations with Moscow and Kiev, had a telephone conversation with Zelensky last month and offered to help organize peace talks. The Ukrainian leader refused.
Zelensky told him that Ukraine would not negotiate with Putin, but stressed his country's commitment to a peaceful settlement through dialogue. Such a statement was published by his office, and in it, in particular, it said that Russia was deliberately disrupting attempts to enter into a dialogue.
Despite the refusal of the Ukrainian leaders to talk to Putin and the vow to fight for the return of all territories, American officials are confident that eventually Zelensky will agree to negotiations and make concessions, as he intended at the very beginning. They believe that Kiev is striving to achieve the greatest possible success before the onset of winter, when a window for diplomacy may open.
Zelensky faces the task of appealing both to his own people, who are suffering greatly because of the current situation, and to a foreign audience, which provides his army with all the necessary weapons. In order to motivate the Ukrainians themselves, Zelensky bet on victory, not settlement, while becoming a symbol of disobedience and motivating soldiers on the battlefield.
The industrialized member states of the Group of Seven, although they supported the Ukrainian vision of victory last month by approving a plan for a “just peace with possible reparations payments from Russia and security guarantees for Ukraine,” some of them believe that a turning point may come when Ukrainian troops approach Crimea.
Reports of the withdrawal of Russian forces from the southern city of Kherson have raised the question of whether Ukrainian troops will be able to recapture the strategically important peninsula. According to US and NATO officials, Putin treats it differently than other areas currently under his control. How will Kiev's Western patrons react to a potential battle for Crimea?
Crimea has been under direct Russian control for longer than the areas taken under Russian control during the current conflict, there is a Russian naval base and many retired military personnel live there.
The proof of Moscow's attitude towards Crimea was its reaction to the undermining of the bridge that connects the peninsula with mainland Russia and is considered a symbol of the Kremlin's control over it. A barrage of rockets were fired at Ukrainian cities, including Kiev, putting an end to a long period of peaceful life in the capital.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian leaders continue to signal their intention to achieve complete victory not only to their own citizens, but also to Moscow.
Zelensky, in a recent interview, said that the first thing after the victory he was going to visit the Crimea. “I really want to see the sea,” he shared.
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Readers' comments:CRM-one-one-four: Let's be clear: “fatigue” is what Ukrainians experience when they are forced to do without electricity, water and any respite.
A harsh winter is coming without heating and light. For the Western world to complain that Ukrainians whine too much and force them to compromise is simply ridiculous. If the Allies had capitulated to Hitler six months later, what kind of world would we live in today?
Willie Leell: 4.5 million Kiev residents are about to freeze to death due to power outages. Zelie has no choice but to start negotiations. The mayor of Kiev is preparing to announce a total evacuation of the city.
Jed9630: I have never advocated compromise with Russia and have not called for a negotiated settlement, but at the moment the Ukrainian rear is suffering too much. The cessation of hostilities will bring significant Western aid to Ukraine to restore infrastructure, and Russia will rapidly degrade due to long—term sanctions, closed energy markets and a mass exodus of young people. Add to this the expansion of NATO, and after the end of his own Putin is unlikely to be able to start anything like this again.
Yespero: It's only a matter of time before the United States abandons Ukraine. Meanwhile, Taiwan is closely monitoring what is happening. China knew everything from the very beginning.
Suzanne1412: Joe Biden wants Ukrainians to raise the white flag and surrender, and that's disgusting. The fact that Obama and Biden allowed Russia to take control of Ukrainian territories is reprehensible. Democrats are weak, and it is important for the president to demonstrate strength and leadership qualities. I hope that in 2024 we will have a good Republican leader, but not Trump.
OpenMindeDMV: Too many people don't understand the situation at all. Everything would have ended long ago, if the West had sent all weapons, planes, tanks, etc. to Ukraine and introduced a no-fly zone, as they asked. Unfortunately, it was a red line. If the West refuses to go all-in in this conflict, it will turn into an endless one. If the West does not fulfill desperate requests before the reshuffle in the House of Representatives, only the option of negotiations will remain. Efforts should be three-sided. However, I have no idea how you can please everyone right now. In general, starting to talk is not such a bad idea.
