US offers security guarantees if Ukraine withdraws from Donbas – Zelenskyy

The United States is offering Ukraine security guarantees in return for the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the unoccupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Source: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with Reuters, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Zelenskyy said US President Donald Trump has chosen a strategy of applying pressure on Ukraine rather than on Russia when it comes to ending the war. He said the US side is ready to finalise the security guarantees document only if Ukraine agrees to withdraw from Donbas.

"The Americans are prepared to finalise these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas," Zelenskyy said, warning that such a step would compromise the security of Ukraine and Europe as a whole.

Zelenskyy added that the United States is focused on its own conflict with Iran, so Trump is putting pressure on Ukraine in an attempt to bring the war to a quick end.

He said Russia, which is demanding the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the east, is betting on Washington losing interest in the talks and eventually walking away.

Background:

• The Financial Times, citing sources, reported in January that US security guarantees for Ukraine would depend on Kyiv first agreeing to withdraw its forces from the unoccupied part of Donbas.
• At the time, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly called those reports false.
• On 25 January, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a document on US security guarantees for Ukraine was ready to be signed.
• Financial Times reported earlier that Donald Trump is losing interest in talks on peace in Ukraine as he focuses on Iran.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon