US 'ties security guarantees to Ukraine giving up Donbas'

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Times (UK)

The White House has told Ukraine it must cede the Donbas before the US will provide security guarantees, according to reports.

-snip-

Now, President Zelensky has been told by the White House that he must reach an agreement with Russia that involves surrendering the Donbas before he can sign documents on US security guarantees, according to the Financial Times.

-snip-

Anna Kelly, the deputy White House press secretary, told the FT: “This is totally false — the US’s only role in the peacemaking process is to bring both sides together to make a deal. It’s a shame that the Financial Times is letting malicious actors lie anonymously in order to muck up the peace process, which is in a great place after this weekend’s historic trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi.”

Kirill Dmitriev, one of the Kremlin’s key negotiators, confirmed Russia’s demand that peace talks were contingent on Ukraine withdrawing from the Donbas, a coal-mining region of eastern Ukraine divided between the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/ukraine-donbas-us-trump-russia-putin-kj0tkbd7c

---

The Financial Times story - https://www.ft.com/content/8ca0d4fd-fdfd-4aa3-a3a2-90be00d55b9d - says that 8 people familiar with the talks were their sources for the story that the White House wants this disastrous concession and retreat.

[LiberalArkie]

1. As soon as Russia cedes St. Petersburg to Ukraine

[mahina]

6. Perfect.

[Lovie777]

2. The US is not Ukraine's friend at point in time.............

[ananda]

11. Trump is and always has been Putin's special "friend."

Yep

[ancianita]

3. Fuck that, and fuck the felon and the so-called "White House" he hides behind.

[bluestarone]

4. Hey SF BONE SPUR go to HELL!

[mahina]

5. Shame on them. Shame on us. The US should not take orders from Putin.

[PSPS]

7. trump will do everything he can to see ukraine fall because Zelensky didn't submit to his shakedown in 2019.

trump is obviously a proxy for putin in any "negotiations"

[DavidDvorkin]

8. The Sudetenland

Mr. Hitler assures me he has no further territorial ambitions in Europe.

[xocetaceans]

9. How did the US security guarantees for Greenland and Denmark work out? It seems we were just threatening an ...

... invasion or some other means of annexing Greenland last week, weren't we?

Security guarantees from the US under the Trump Administration are at best laughable and should never be taken to be worth anything. That is sad to say, but it is true. Besides, the US already gave Ukraine security guarantees when Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons:

Ukraine, Nuclear Weapons, and Security Assurances at a Glance

Last Reviewed
March 2022

Contact: Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director, [phone] x107

At the time of Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine held the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, including an estimated 1,900 strategic warheads, 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and 44 strategic bombers. By 1996, Ukraine had returned all of its nuclear warheads to Russia in exchange for economic aid and security assurances, and in December 1994, Ukraine became a non-nuclear weapon state-party to the 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). The last strategic nuclear delivery vehicle in Ukraine was eliminated in 2001 under the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). It took years of political maneuvering and diplomatic work, starting with the Lisbon Protocol in 1992, to remove the weapons and nuclear infrastructure from Ukraine.

...

1994 Trilateral Statement

The Massandra Accords set the stage for the ultimately successful trilateral talks. As the United States mediated between Russia and Ukraine, the three countries signed the Trilateral Statement on January 14, 1994. Ukraine committed to full disarmament, including strategic weapons, in exchange for economic support and security assurances from the United States and Russia. Ukraine agreed to transfer its nuclear warheads to Russia and accepted U.S. assistance in dismantling missiles, bombers, and nuclear infrastructure. Ukraine’s warheads would be dismantled in Russia, and Ukraine would receive compensation for the commercial value of the highly enriched uranium. Ukraine ratified START on February 3, 1994, repealing its earlier preconditions, but it would not accede to the NPT without further security assurances.

https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/ukraine-nuclear-weapons-and-security-assurances-glance

[Martin68]

10. God damn Trump. Putin's lapdog.

[ChicagoTeamster]

12. Ukraine should string Trump along with lies while getting more supplies from US and EU, strike deep into Russia

with missiles while EU troops deploy To Ukraine, and prepare for Spring offensive to obliterate Russians in Donbas and then use Spring and Summer to clean it out and re-occupy it. Ukraine should also coordinate with EU to support resistance groups in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Georgia to create problems requiring Russia's attention outside of Ukraine.

In the meantime Starmer and Rutte should tell Putin he may as well release whatever blackmail material he has on Trump because Trump won't deliver Donbas.

[maxsolomon]

15. "...while EU troops deploy To Ukraine"?

That is distinctly unlikely.

[electric_blue68]

13. FU, Trump! FU, Putin! Slava Ukraini!............ 🌻🇺🇦🌻

[maxsolomon]

14. "The Donbas" means what?

The land behind the line of control? That's parts of Luhansk and Donetsk, and all of Crimea...

Or just Donetsk Province? There are parts of "The Donbas" that aren't in Russian control yet.

As much as I hate it, Ukraine will wind up ceding territory to end this war - MFer is starving them of the resources they need to sustain it.

The question is how much, and in exchange for what.

[blue-wave]

20. Let there be

a 10 mile demilitarized zone along the entire pre-2014 internationally recognized Ukraine/Russian border, on both sides. That should be the extent of "giving up" land to which Ukraine ever agrees.

[mitch96]

16. Typical ruzzian negotiation tactic... Make demand the maximum, do not ask, demand something that has never been yours

Make Absurd demands
Threaten, present ultimatums.
Do not give one inch in negotiations..
The other side will always offer you something, consessions
ruzzia gets something they did not have before.

The ruzzian tactic for years... TFG just trying to adopt it..
m

[Bayard]

17. Yada yada yada

Russia is going bankrupt with a bullet. Call Putin's bluff because he's not in a position to make demands. trump has already broken previous treaties that were undertaken when Ukraine gave up its nukes. He's not going to honor anything.

Stay strong, President Zelensky! Make your own demands.

[dlk]

18. What, exactly, would Trump's security guarantees actually be worth?

I think we all know.

[blue-wave]

19. Well, I'd bet that the reason Witkoff went to meet Putin right after Davos

was to finalize this demand with Putin. This all stinks so bad you would almost think Witkoff had his head way up into Putin's posterior cheeks.

[sakabatou]

21. Once again, proving Dump is Putin's puppet.

[LudwigPastorius]

22. I believe the correct response to the White House would be...

їсти лайно!

[Safe as Milk]

23. What isn't mentioned is Crimea, a much more valuable piece of real estate.

Is Putin already assuming that Crimea is Russian territory? He wants Donbas AND Criimea???

[RainCaster]

24. Komrade Bone Spurs is Vlads' bitch

Let the world see just what this traitor is doing to the free world.