As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine goes into its fifth week, negotiations on both sides have been making progress.  Russia seems to have given up on its demand to completely ‘demilitarize’ Ukraine and seems focused on gaining territorial concessions in the Donbas region and getting reassurances that Ukraine will not join NATO.

The Biden White House has almost completely severed its relations with Russia, which has taken a back seat in the negotiations. In contrast, other countries with links with Russia and Ukraine have offered to mediate, such as Israel.

Ukraine has not yet decided if it would be willing to give Russia territorial concessions, such as Crimea, which has been under Russia’s control since 2014, or territories in the Donbas region.

Yesterday, the Biden administration seemed to be open to the idea of Ukraine giving Russia territorial concessions during a White House briefing.

 

The New York Post Reports–

 

 

 

 

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Tuesday that Ukraine would decide whether to give up territory to end Russia’s invasion — declining to embrace a British stance that all Russian troops must leave.

Bedingfield was asked at the daily White House briefing about a statement earlier in the day from the office of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

A CNN reporter noted that Johnson’s office “said today that they won’t accept anything less than a full withdrawal of all Russian forces from Ukrainian territory” and asked, “Does President Biden share that view that reduced military activity is not enough?”

“We are going to allow the Ukrainians to execute these negotiations. It’s not our role to begin the negotiation,” Bedingfield said.

Asked later by a Reuters reporter about whether Russia should be allowed to retain control of the Donbas region, she said, “again, I am not going to pre-judge where these negotiations ultimately net out.”