Paris and London allow Ukraine to de facto lose territories in exchange for security and economic support — WSJ

London and Paris assume that Ukraine will lose control over part of its territories in exchange for security guarantees and economic support.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported this with reference to its sources.

The governments of Britain and France want Kyiv to recognize only the de facto loss of the territories, but not legally recognize them as russian. Next will be a treaty similar to the agreement between the Republic of Korea and the DPRK, which ended the 1950–1953 war.

"Since the front line has not moved much in the last two years, the Ukrainian public has begun to understand that territorial concessions may be required to end the war," the publication says.

The publication notes that only de facto concessions are being discussed with the prospect of returning these territories in the future. Legal recognition of Crimea as russian is not under discussion.

Meanwhile, Kyiv fears that without reliable security guarantees, russian president vladimir putin will rebuild the army and attack Ukraine again in a few years.

Recall, according to media reports, the so-called "final" peace agreement that the US handed over to Ukraine provides for the recognition of Crimea as part of russia and recognition of control over the occupied territories. However, the security and restoration guarantees for Ukraine are spelled out in the document extremely vaguely.

According to the Washington Post, at a meeting in London on April 23, US representatives plan to discuss with Ukrainian and European officials a peace agreement that provides for the recognition of Crimea as russian and a ceasefire along the current front line.

At the same time, the Financial Times stated that russian leader vladimir putin is ready to abandon demands for full control over the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Regions of Ukraine, proposing instead to stop hostilities on the current front line. The kremlin denied the report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied that the United States had officially proposed recognizing annexed Crimea as russian, although American officials had discussed such ideas. He stressed that Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea.

In response, top diplomats from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany and Ukraine postponed a meeting in London scheduled for Wednesday, April 23, for high-level talks on how to end russia’s war.

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