Kyiv has long maintained that it will not give up any territory occupied by Russia in exchange for peace. However, with newly US President-elect Donald Trump pushing for faster negotiations, Ukrainian authorities are increasingly emphasizing the need for reliable security guarantees, writes The New York Times (NYT) on Wednesday, Nov. 13.
NYT notes that due to the constant loss of positions by Ukrainian forces in the east, two senior Ukrainian officials believe that defending the country’s interests in potential negotiations will depend less on borders, likely defined by the fighting, and more on the reliability of guarantees to uphold a ceasefire.
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“Talks should be based on guarantees,” said Roman Kostenko, the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Defense and Intelligence Committee. “For Ukraine, nothing is more important.”
Another senior Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was more candid:
“The territorial question is extremely important, but it’s still the second question,” the official said, “The first question is security guarantees.”
Ukraine sets its borders based on the internationally recognized Declaration of Independence from 1991. Russia has seized about 20% of Ukrainian territory, and Kyiv will not officially relinquish its claims to any land under Russian occupation, Kostenko stresses.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December, 21, 2024
The article’s authors note that Ukraine is using this approach to justify any agreement in which Russia might retain control over part of Ukrainian territory.
In October, while discussing the issue of a ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that everyone understands that regardless of the path chosen, no one will legally recognize the occupied territories as belonging to other countries.
Trump may soon appoint a special representative to handle peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, several sources told Fox News.
One of the sources told the network that this would be a highly influential individual with significant authority, whom Trump would task with achieving a “peaceful resolution” in Ukraine.
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