War

One thousand three hundred eighty-third day. Negotiations between the United States and Ukraine on a peace agreement with Russia ended without much progress. Questions about territories and security guarantees remain unresolved

Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We publish your letters in our daily materials because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Share with us the thoughts you have about the war. What feelings are you experiencing? How does war affect you, your life, the lives of your loved ones and your attitude towards the world? The feedback form is at the end of this article. You can read the previous day's review here .

World

Three days of negotiations between Washington and Kiev to end the Russian-Ukrainian war and conclude a peace agreement ended with a minimum of new achievements and unresolved questions about territory and security guarantees, according to a CNN publication. Since Thursday, December 4, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov, together with the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andrei Gnatov, were in Miami, where they met with the special envoy of the US President Steven Witkoff and Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

On the evening of December 6, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky reported a “long, substantive, substantive and constructive” telephone conversation with Witkoff and Kushner. According to him, the parties discussed “key things that can guarantee the end of the bloodshed and remove the threat of a third Russian invasion, as well as the threat of Russia not fulfilling its promises, as has happened more than once in the past.” According to Axios, the phone calls lasted two hours. This was Zelensky's first conversation with American negotiators after their trip to Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Challenging issues remain, but both sides continue to work to create realistic and acceptable solutions. The main challenges at this stage relate to issues of territory and [security] guarantees, and we are actively looking for optimal formats to solve them,” said Olga Stefanishyna, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States.

An Axios source said that Witkoff and Kushner have collected proposals from the Russian and Ukrainian sides and are pushing both Putin and Zelensky to make concessions. According to another interlocutor of the publication, the discussion of the territorial issue during the telephone conversation “was difficult.” Russia still demands that Ukraine withdraw from Kiev-controlled areas of Donbass, but the United States is trying to develop new ideas to solve the problem, a second source said. Another key topic was security guarantees for Ukraine from the United States. One of the sources said the parties had made significant progress on the issue and were closer to an agreement, but more work needed to be done to ensure both sides interpreted the guarantees the same way.

Trump's outgoing special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, says an agreement to end the war is "really close." He said that now everything depends on resolving two issues: the future of Donbass and control over the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

The day before, Witkoff reported “constructive discussions” with the Ukrainian delegation on “a reliable path to a lasting and just peace in Ukraine.” At the talks, he said, “both sides agreed that real progress toward any agreement depends on Russia’s willingness to demonstrate a serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps to de-escalate and stop the killing.”

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

Alice (Europe) . The [US] plan for achieving peace is bad, but [Ukraine] needs to agree.

Of course, this is ultimately up to the Ukrainians who risk their lives every day. This is their country and their choice. I can think whatever I want from a safe place here. And this is what I think: peace is dearer to me than justice.

Encouraging an aggressor is very unfair; this could theoretically lead to new aggression in the future. Or maybe it won’t, no one knows. But right now people are dying in large numbers, including children. Do you think these children are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of justice and punishment of the aggressor? Or is the peaceful sky above their heads more valuable to them right now?

But, as mentioned earlier, the plan has a significant drawback: Putin may not accept it and continue to fight.

And Trump is a damn peacemaker, of course. Offers Ukrainians to surrender in exchange for peace. So they could have done it without him, damn it, ally. And now, under the threat of stopping the aid of the Ukrainians, he will push [for a peace agreement] and will be in the forefront for the Nobel Peace Prize [will be], yeah. And then, if Putin goes to the second round of war (under another American president), he will shout all over the media: “But if I were president now, this war would not have happened!”

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