Ukraine frontline mapped: The land in dispute as US proposes Zelensky cede terrority for Nato membership
Another round of US-brokered Russia-Ukraine talks this week again failed to make significant breakthrough towards a long-awaited peace deal, as differences over territory hinder progress.
The days since have seen the countries continue launching major attacks on each other’s energy and oil infrastructure and on cargo vessels in the Black Sea, after the talks in Abu Dhabi failed to bear fruit.
Eight regions of Ukraine overnight going into Sunday, Mr Zelensky said on Sunday, in attacks he said were made partly possible due to restrictions on Ukraine’s use of SpaceX’s Starshield service.
But it comes after a potential positive emerged for Kyiv from the talks. Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday 14 November that the US delegation had proposed Ukrainian membership of Nato in exchange for ceding the entirety of the Donbas region.
It marks an implicit rejection of Russia’s long-term demand that Ukraine must commit to not joining the western military alliance.
While ceding land that it currently controls had been a red line for Kyiv, Mr Zelensky said he would hold a referendum to allow Ukrainians to vote on a peace agreement should the US and Nato support the proposals.
It could mark a welcome shift in the US approach as Kyiv continues to be battered by Russian attacks on energy and railway infrastructure. Russian forces struck a cargo vessel in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, the defence ministry said on Saturday.
Attacks by Ukraine, meanwhile, killed one and injured several others in Russia’s southern Rostov region overnight, the region’s governor said on Sunday.
Ukrainian forces also struck the Nizhnekamskneftekhim petrochemical plant, a major producer of rubbers and plastics, and an oil refining facility in Russia’s Tatarstan region overnight, Kyiv’s General Staff said on Sunday.
Following the talks earlier this week, Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said that mutual understanding had been achieved on some issues and that more talks would be held, adding that the two sides had agreed on a large-scale prisoner swap.
Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said that there was “good momentum” towards reaching a solution by the end of this year, but that Europe should also be represented in future discussions.
The talks marked a restart for diplomacy some nine months after delegations last met in Geneva to discuss peace terms.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky voiced concerns in February that Kyiv was being asked “too often” to make concessions as Moscow stuck to its maximalist demands for land in Ukraine’s mineral-rich east.
The last year has seen Ukraine test Russia’s resilience with expanded strikes on major businesses and energy infrastructure across the border, piling pressure onto the Kremlin to end what has become a costly and gruelling attritional conflict.
