The next round of talks, scheduled for March 4-5, could be decisive for the signing of a peace agreement, sources claim.
Russia, the aggressor country, is prepared to end negotiations with Ukraine if it does not agree to territorial concessions in Donbas. This was reported by bigmir.net, citing Bloomberg sources, on Saturday, February 28. PromPolitInform reports.
The next round of talks is reportedly scheduled for March 4-5 and could be decisive for the signing of a peace agreement.
According to sources close to the Kremlin, Russia is prepared to sign a draft peace memorandum if Ukraine agrees to withdraw its troops from the entire Donetsk region. A summit is then planned with the participation of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US and Ukrainian presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky to confirm the agreement and begin the mutual withdrawal of forces. At the same time, Russia allegedly expresses its willingness to withdraw its troops from the Sumy, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, and is also prepared to renounce its claims to the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
At the same time, Moscow insists on the presence of its National Guard in the occupied territories of Donbas, while the US proposes creating a free economic zone there under the Ukrainian flag.
As is known, Zelenskyy emphasizes that the fortified areas of Donetsk are critical for defense, and Kyiv does not recognize the illegal occupation of the territories. Ukraine proposes a ceasefire along the existing frontline and the return of territories exclusively through diplomatic means, subject to strict security guarantees from the US and Europe.
The agency recalls that negotiating teams have already held three meetings in Abu Dhabi and Geneva. US representatives, including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, discussed with the Ukrainian side an investment package for post-war reconstruction. Russia, however, has made it clear that without territorial concessions from Kyiv, further negotiations are pointless. The fate of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remains a separate issue in the negotiations. Russia proposes sharing power generation among three countries (Russia, the United States, and Ukraine), while Kyiv insists on a 50/50 split with the United States, with the American side free to share with Russia.
The possibility of providing Ukraine with security guarantees similar to Article 5 of NATO, as previously mentioned by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff after the Alaska summit, is also being discussed.
As a reminder, Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently stated that he sees a “window” of opportunity for achieving peace in Ukraine between now and the US midterm elections in November. He made this statement in an interview with Sky News.
In the same interview, Zelenskyy also rejected the idea of handing over Donbas to Russia. According to him, the issue of surrendering Donbas is not only a red line, but also a line of defense.
