Give Up the Donetsk Region – RedState
On Friday, we noted that President Trump had outlined a peace deal to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, in which both sides would simply lay down their arms, move away from the lines as they exist, and accept this as the new status quo.
On Sunday, the UK Telegraph revealed that President Trump’s top negotiator, Steve Witkoff, pushed Ukraine to give up the Donetsk region in exchange for peace, a significant part of what President Trump reportedly asked Ukraine to give up in his previous statement.
Donald Trump’s top negotiator pushed Volodymyr Zelensky to cede the entire Donetsk region to Russia in order to end the war in Ukraine, we have learned.
Steve Witkoff, who has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin five times this year, asked the visiting Ukrainian delegation to the White House last Friday to cede territory controlled by his forces.
That’s one of the key demands of Putin, who made clear in a phone call with Mr. Trump last week that he still wants Ukraine to cede that swath of territory as a precondition for peace, the Washington Post reported.
However, the surrender of Donetsk constitutes a red line for Ukraine, which has long refused to cede territory that Russia has failed to capture despite fighting since 2014.
This does not seem like a deal Ukraine would be eager to accept.
Learn more: Trump on Russo-Ukraine War: Stop at the Battle Line, Both Sides Go Home
Putin Uses Muhammad Ali Tactics Against Trump’s Ukraine Peace Efforts
As I wrote on Friday:
Currently, Russia controls much of eastern Ukraine, including the Donbass region, the cities of Luhansk, Horlivka, Donetsk, Melitopol and the port city of Berdyansk. Russia has also seized some key infrastructure, such as the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. This represents approximately 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, and is home to between 3 and 3.5 million Ukrainians. And these are only the territories occupied by Russia after the 2022 invasion, which do not include Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014.
This is a bad deal for Ukraine in every way, and is unlikely to be considered.
Mr. Trump, who called on both sides to “stop the killing” and “make a deal,” agreed to meet Putin in Hungary within two weeks.
But the Russian president’s continued insistence on Donetsk’s surrender suggests that a fundamental obstacle to a ceasefire agreement remains.
In the call with Mr. Trump, Putin said Russia could cede parts of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces currently occupied by its forces.
However, a senior European diplomat told the Washington Post that Ukraine would never agree to such trade.
Ukraine is unlikely to consider trading what is legitimately Ukrainian territory in exchange for what is legitimately Ukrainian territory; Putin is simply offering to give back to Ukraine a little of what it took from him. Ukraine is also unlikely to accept the current lines as they are.
The eastern regions of Ukraine, including the Donetsk region, are home to large numbers of Russian speakers, and this is a big part of the problem; Vladimir Putin undoubtedly wants these people to be part of Russia. Another factor is the fact that there are significant mineral riches in eastern Ukraine.
President Trump will meet with President Putin in Hungary, largely to discuss this ongoing war. It remains to be seen whether this meeting will result in an agreement to end the war.
Editor’s Note: Schumer’s closure is here. Rather than putting the American people first, Chuck Schumer and radical Democrats forced a government shutdown on health care for illegal immigrants. They own that.
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