The US wants a deal on a settlement in Ukraine by 4 July, Bloomberg reported, citing European officials and NATO representatives.
“The U.S. is pushing for a deal before Trump holds a celebration of the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence on July 4. But senior European and NATO officials say there is no indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to reach an agreement that doesn’t meet his basic demands,” Bloomberg said in a report Tuesday.
According to them, the Washington administration wants to conclude the agreement before the U.S. celebrates the 250th anniversary of the country’s independence.
The publication notes that three rounds of trilateral talks this year in Abu Dhabi and Geneva failed to produce a single result. Ukraine’s European allies have been largely sidelined from the talks, with Moscow and Washington effectively competing to see who will be the first to make concessions. This will mean either that Russia will concede some of its red lines, which include full control over territories in eastern Donbass, or that the US will give up on Ukraine.
Ukraine in turn rejects Russia’s demands to withdraw troops from fortified areas of eastern Donetsk and has proposed a ceasefire along existing front lines. The US offers to create a free economic zone in the area along with security guarantees for Ukraine against any future Russian attack. No final framework on the fate of the nuclear plant has yet been finalised, although the US has said power sharing will be a critical part of any deal. While the US has proposed a three-way split, Kiev rejects any division with Russia, although it has said the Americans would have the right to split their share with Moscow.
One concern of Kiev’s allies is that Putin might agree to a ceasefire that would allow Trump to claim success in ending the war while Russia continues a campaign of sabotage, hybrid warfare or election meddling aimed at destabilising Ukraine, according to European diplomats familiar with the matter, who asked that their names not be released because the matter is not public.