“US Vice President J.D. Vance said that progress has been made in peace negotiations for Ukraine, but there is no confidence in a peaceful settlement.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
JD Vance. photo by Getty Images Source: Vance, in an interview with UnHerd, published on December 22, quotes “European Truth”
Details: According to Vance, during the negotiations there are difficulties with the three parties involved in them: the Ukrainians, the Russians and the Europeans. However, in his opinion, the “breakthrough” is that “all (contradictory) issues are brought up for open discussion,” while “initially there was a little game of obfuscation.”
Advertising:
Then Vance listed the most controversial issues of the negotiations, among which the key one is territorial.
“The Russians really want to control the territory of Donetsk (Donetsk region. – ed.). Ukrainians understandably consider this a serious security problem, (even if) they privately admit that in the end they will probably lose Donetsk (the entire Donetsk region. – ed.) but, you know, in the end: it could happen in 12 months, or maybe later. So this territorial concession is a significant obstacle in the negotiations – a terrible territorial concession, I would say,” said JD Vance.
Also, according to him, there are “somewhat less important issues”.
“Who controls the nuclear facility (in Zaporizhzhia)? Can it be jointly controlled? Does it need to be controlled by one or more parties? What will eventually happen to the ethnic Russians still in Ukraine? What will happen to ethnic Ukrainians still in Russia? With Ukrainians who are currently in (occupied by Russia) territory, but want to live in Ukraine? How can this be alleviated? Many Russians asked similar questions. And, of course, there is the issue of reconstruction,” said the US vice president.
According to Vance, he is not against the fact that these or other issues are leaked to the press, and believes that all parties are participating in the negotiations “in good faith.” However, assessing the prospect of achieving peace, the US vice president did not express confidence that it would definitely happen.
“We’re going to continue to try to negotiate. And I think we’ve made progress, but sitting here today, I can’t say with certainty that we’re going to reach a peaceful resolution. I think there’s a good chance we will, but there’s also a good chance we won’t,” the US vice president said.
Prehistory:
- On December 21, the Secretary of the NSDC, Rustem Umyerov, stated that the meetings with the American and European partners during the last three days in Florida were productive and constructive.
- US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff also stated that the negotiations between representatives of the US, Europe and Ukraine were productive.