Four rounds of negotiations resulted in frustratingly little progress in securing ceasefire and safe humanitarian corridors. Both Ukrainian and Russian leadership gave vague comments about the results of each round. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned on Monday, March 14, that the last round of negotiations had been “pretty good”. In Zelensky’s words, Ukraine expects “fair peace and real security guarantees that will work” and “safe sky over Ukraine”.
Meanwhile, Russia commented that discussions over the weekend were a “substantial progress”. It is unlikely that Putin has changed his overall aim to restore the Russian sphere of influence, keep the annexed Donbas and Crimea, and ban Ukraine from Western military alliances. The Ukrainian side has firmly stated that it would not comply with Russia’s demands just to stop the war ‘in a moment’.
This leaves the Ukrainian people and friends of Ukraine in the dark about the future of Ukraine’s multiple stress points – Mariupol, humanitarian corridors and security of civilians – that the Ukrainian leadership may not be able to resolve without unpopular compromises.
Questions for discussions:
- How did the sides’ hard positions change since the beginning of the war?
- What are the most recent principled positions of the sides?
- What compromises may the Russian Federation actually consider in negotiations with Ukraine?
- What is negotiable for the Ukrainian side? Will Zelensky’s negotiators stick to Ukraine’s ‘hard’ position on Crimea and Donbass?
- What are the red lines that the Ukrainian society is not ready to cross for peace?
- How can Ukraine explain to its partners in the West that immediate peace is not in Ukraine’s interest in spite growing civilian casualties?
- How may non-military factors – urgent need in humanitarian relief, environmental catastrophe, Western diplomatic pressure, international aid – guide Ukraine in its negotiations?
- Is President Zelensky’s team, the Armed Forces and the Ukrainian society on the same page about Ukraine’s positions in negotiations?
Speakers:
- Valeriy Chaly, Chairman of the Board of Ukraine Crisis Media Center
- Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, MP and Head of the committee for integration of Ukraine to European Union
- Archil Tsyntsadze, military expert
- Valeriy Pekar, lecturer at Kyiv-Mohyla Business School
- Iurii Mytrofanenko, PhD from Kropyvnytskyi
- Yaroslava Dekhtiarenko, writer from Zaporizhzhia.
If you want to support Ukraine against Russian aggression, check the link with recommendations by Ukraine Crisis Media Center – https://uacrisis.org/en/help-ukraine.
NGO Euroatlantic Course collects donations to support Ukrainian Army and civilians – https://eac.org.ua/en/main-page/.