Task: US attaches guarantees to Donbass

TT

Published 15.43

 

"For Donbass, where you want to live!" is roughly what this propaganda sign in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in the county of the same name says. Archive photo. Photo: AP/TT

The US is reportedly making support and security guarantees to Ukraine conditional on the country allowing Russia to take over the entire Donbass region in the east.

Trump administration officials have indicated that this is what is needed, the Financial Times reports, citing eight sources with insight into the ongoing talks.

Two of the sources say that it has been set up as Ukraine receiving American promises of military support in peacetime - if the country withdraws all forces from the areas of Donbass that are still under Ukrainian control.

Ukraine and invading Russia began trilateral talks with the United States last week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that an agreement with American promises of security guarantees and future support is ready to be signed. According to the anonymous sources, the United States is holding back.

Russia has referred to a framework that President Vladimir Putin allegedly agreed to with Donald Trump during a visit to Alaska this summer. There, the “territorial issue” remains of paramount importance, Putin’s spokesman said on Monday, which is believed to be a reference to Donbass.

Ukrainian and European sources spoken to by the FT describe it as the United States trying to force Ukraine to agree to Russia’s demands.

Trump’s press secretary Anna Kelly tells the newspaper that the information is completely false and comes from malicious actors:

– The only role of the United States in the peace process is to bring the two sides together to reach an agreement.