According to a Washington Post report, European officials believe Ukraine “may be willing to endure” Moscow’s control over Crimea.
Citing sources, the Washington Post reports that European officials are urging Ukraine to accept the possibility of territorial concessions to Russia as part of any peace settlement.
The issue was reportedly on the agenda during discussions in London involving European and Ukrainian representatives. The talks were scaled down after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cancelled his attendance. However, one official told the WaPo that the talks made “made progress” in convincing Kiev that concessions may be unavoidable.
Western negotiators reportedly believe Ukraine “may be willing to endure effective Russian control of Crimea,” as long as Kiev isn’t forced to legally acknowledge it. Crimea overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in 2014, following a Western-backed coup in Kiev.
Many Ukrainians, however, are hesitant to relinquish future claims to Crimea, seeing any territorial compromise as a “dangerous precedent” for potentially formally recognizing Moscow’s control over four other formerly Ukrainian regions that voted to join Russia in 2022.
This development follows reported disagreements between the US, European nations, and Kiev regarding their visions for a Ukraine peace agreement. According to a Reuters report confirmed by the WaPo, the parties have presented differing proposals for ending the conflict.
Specifically, US envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly suggested that Washington recognize Crimea as Russian and accept Moscow’s de facto control over large parts of the other four regions. Meanwhile, Ukraine and its European allies are reportedly resisting any mention of territorial recognition in the proposed agreements, preferring to postpone territorial issues until after a ceasefire and prioritizing strong security guarantees for Kiev.
According to a Western official who spoke with the WaPo, for Europe and Ukraine, “it is not only reasonable but necessary to push back on some elements of the US proposal, as it gives Ukraine practically very, very little. And Russia a lot.” The report also indicated that Europe is attempting to “edge Washington toward a more reasonable agreement,” emphasizing that a ceasefire must be the crucial first step.
The WaPo report coincides with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s extensive discussions with Witkoff at the Kremlin on Friday. Presidential adviser Yury Ushakov described the meeting as “constructive and very useful” and said that the talks included the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.
Commenting on the negotiation’s status, Trump stated that Ukraine and Russia “should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off.’ Most of the major points are agreed to.”