Representatives of the United States and European countries began to discuss with the Ukrainian authorities the topic of possible peace negotiations with Russia. This was reported by NBC News, citing a “high-ranking US official” and his former colleague, who are familiar with the discussions.
According to the publication’s interlocutors, some of the “delicate” conversations took place last month during a meeting of representatives 50 countries supporting Ukraine. The reason for discussing peace negotiations with Russia was the fear of American and European officials that there would be no opportunity to help Ukraine in the future.
In addition, according to NBC News sources, after the escalation of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, Ukraine began to attract less attention, which could also affect the reduction of aid to Kyiv. Some American military officials call the situation in the war in Ukraine “stalemate”, since neither side has recently advanced on the battlefield.
At the same time, the spokeswoman for the National Security Council noted that the United States does not plan to refuse support for Ukraine, and the decision on peace negotiations will remain with the Ukrainian authorities. An administration official noted that the United States was talking about peace negotiations, but the White House “is currently unaware of any other conversations with Ukraine about negotiations.”
Two NBC News sources clarified that American authorities do not have information about Vladimir Putin’s readiness to enter into peace negotiations. In their opinion, the Russian president believes that he can wait until Ukraine’s allies lose domestic support due to the country’s financing or exhaust this opportunity due to the high cost of supplying Kyiv with weapons.
“This is not a stalemate. <…> We have no right to give up. What's the alternative? What, we need to give away a third of our state? This will only be the beginning. We know what a frozen conflict is, we have already drawn conclusions for ourselves. We need to work more with air defense partners, unblock the skies, give our fighters the opportunity to carry out offensive actions,” Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said today at a press conference with the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Back in July this year This year, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed that former US officials had held informal talks with Moscow. He did so after NBC News reported that former US officials met in New York with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in April to “lay the groundwork” for peace talks on Ukraine.
Updated at 18:30. Added comment from Vladimir Zelensky.