Ukraine and Russia both indicated Wednesday there was a possibility that the countries can negotiate an end to three weeks of bitter fighting, but Ukrainian neutrality remains a contentious point.
The promising signs of a breakthrough come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday acknowledged that NATO membership for Ukraine was unlikely.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the NATO acknowledgment indicative of a “businesslike spirit” starting to surface in peace talks, which he said “gives hope that we can agree on this issue.”
“A neutral status is being seriously discussed in connection with security guarantees,” Lavrov said on Russian TV this week. “There are concrete formulations that in my view are close to being agreed.”
Russia has floated the possibility of so-called Swedish-or Austrian-style neutrality, in which Ukraine would be allowed to maintain an army of its own, but be forbidden from aligning itself with other military alliances or hosting bases for foreign troops.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (center) and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (right) meet with the Czech, Polish and Slovenian prime ministers in Kyiv on March 15, 2022. EPA/TELEGRAM/V_Zelenskiy_official /
A Ukraine presidential adviser also called for direct negotiations between Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS/File Photo
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed a joint session of Congress on March 16, 2022, pleading for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Ukraine Presidential Press Service via Abaca/Sipa USAUkrainian presidential adviser and negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak denied that Ukraine was open to adopting such a model of neutrality, however, saying on Telegram that his country needs powerful allies and “clearly defined security guarantees” to keep it safe.
“Our position at the negotiations is quite specific — legally verified security guarantees; ceasefire; withdrawal of Russian troops,” he said.
He also denied a report that said that Russia and Ukraine were working on a 15-point peace plan that would involve limits on the Ukrainian military in return for the withdrawal of Russian troops.
A map detailing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Podolyak said the draft only “represents the requesting position of the Russian side.”
“The [Ukrainian] side has its own positions. The only thing we confirm at this stage is a ceasefire, withdrawal of Russian troops and security guarantees from a number of countries,” he wrote on Twitter.
Early negotiations were held by delegations in Belarus, and negotiations restarted this week by video link.
Relatives and friends attend a funeral ceremony for four of the Ukrainian servicemen who were killed during an airstrike on a military base in Yarokiv on March 15, 2022. AP Photo/Bernat Armangue
Smoke comes out the windows in a residential building shelled by Russian troops in the Svyatoshyn district of Kyiv. Oleksandra Butova/Ukrinform via ZUMA Press Wire
Rescuers help a woman evacuate a residential building damaged by shelling, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERSThe two sides will have to hash out who would get Crimea — the peninsula was annexed by Russia in a 2014 invasion — as well as disputed territories in the eastern Donbas region.
There is also the question of how any security guarantee would differ from the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which Russia, the US and the UK all agreed to respect Ukrainian borders.
Podolyak on Wednesday called for direct negotiations between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The necessary guarantees would be possible “only with a direct dialogue between the heads of Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” Podolyak said.
With Post wires
