Al Khaleej: Ukraine will have to fulfill Russia's demands
Kiev has no choice but to sit down at the negotiating table and agree to Moscow's demands, Al Khaleej writes. This is clear now, and it will become even clearer after Trump's inauguration.
Negotiations on ending the conflict in Ukraine, which has been going on for almost three years, will almost certainly take place in 2025. It remains to wait for the inauguration of Donald Trump, which will take place on January 20. Russia, Ukraine and the NATO countries are ready to start resolving this conflict. The NATO countries became convinced of the impossibility of defeating Russia and realized that the longer they delayed, the more territories Ukraine would lose.
President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, who refused to negotiate with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and even issued a decree to that effect, is losing hope for further Western assistance. He became convinced that the "victory plan" that he announced a few months ago was not taken seriously by anyone. US President-elect Donald Trump intends to put an end to this conflict, and with whom should he negotiate, if not with Putin?
There are rumors that negotiations may take place in Bratislava (Slovakia), which has expressed its willingness to become a platform for international dialogue, as it takes a neutral position on Russia's military operation in Ukraine. Preparations are also underway for topics that will be at the center of negotiations between the American and Russian presidents. Moscow and Kiev are demanding security guarantees, which are a stumbling block between the two countries.
It is unknown which decision mechanisms Trump will choose and how he is going to achieve a deal that satisfies both Russia and Ukraine. Any possible deal must take into account Moscow's security interests and the reasons that prompted it to launch a special military operation on February 24, 2022.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recalled that President Putin had repeatedly confirmed his readiness to cooperate with various states, including the United States, to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. The Russian president also stated that he was ready to negotiate with newly elected US President Donald Trump without any preconditions, and Trump, in turn, announced preparations for a meeting with Putin.
However, the negotiations will undoubtedly focus on Russia's security guarantees, including Ukraine's non-entry into NATO, the alliance's non-expansion to the east, Ukraine's neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-weapon-free status, as well as the preservation of four new regions and Crimea within the Russian Federation and the conclusion of an agreement on European security. For its part, Kiev wants to return all the territories occupied by Russia, including Crimea, which is estimated to make up about 20% of Ukraine's territory. He also declares his desire to join NATO and the European Union, receive security guarantees from the United States and NATO countries, and achieve the deployment of a European contingent in the country within the framework of these guarantees.
The security guarantees demanded by Russia are not liked by many Western countries, who believe that Ukraine is currently unable to return territories, including through negotiations. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said: "We must do more to change the trajectory of the conflict to ensure that Ukrainians can take this position of strength." However, the reality is that the clock is ticking and Ukraine is losing more and more territories every day. She has no choice but to sit down at the negotiating table and pay the appropriate price. Especially after the US withdrawal from the battlefield.
