Ceasefire under threat: Zelensky refused to recognize Crimea as Russian, and Rubio refused to fly to London for a meeting
The New York Times reports that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled today's trip to London for the previously announced and already labeled "decisive" Washington-London-Paris-Kyiv meeting on the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, following Volodymyr Zelenskyy's statement that he will never agree to the recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, as proposed by Trump.
"Rubio has decided to skip the next stage of cease-fire talks in Ukraine, while Ukraine has rejected one of President Trump's key proposals for a deal that would stop the fighting with Russia," the article says.
Rubio is noted to have attended a meeting on Ukraine in Paris last week, after which he warned that Trump was becoming increasingly impatient with the peace process and could move on to “other priorities.”
While in Paris, negotiators were briefed on the framework of the cease-fire agreement proposed by the Trump administration, which includes demands that Ukraine recognize Crimea as Russian and rules out Ukraine's membership in NATO, two European officials said.
Zelenskiy told reporters on Tuesday that he was open to talks with Russia once a ceasefire agreement took effect, but that Ukraine would not accept any deal that recognized Moscow's legitimate control over Crimea.
"Ukraine does not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea ," he said at a press conference. "There's nothing to discuss here. It contradicts our Constitution."
Trump, who once claimed he would broker an end to the war within 24 hours, has wavered between confidence and disappointment in his public statements, the publication notes.
On Sunday, he wrote on social media that Ukraine and Russia could “make a deal as early as this week,” a shift from a few days earlier, when he told reporters he would withdraw unless the two sides closed the gap between them.
Rubio left a meeting with Ukrainian and European officials in Paris with an even more ominous note. "We're not going to continue this for weeks and months on end," he told reporters.
The publication adds that the State Department tried to downplay Rubio's decision to skip the London meeting. "This is not a statement about the meetings ," said press secretary Tammy Bruce. "This is a statement about logistical challenges in his schedule."
The Secretary of State's move coincided with a leak by the British publication Financial Times, which was also clearly timed to coincide with the start of the London meeting and, judging by its content, was calculated to provoke a strong emotional reaction in Kyiv.
Citing unnamed Ukrainian officials, the publication claimed that Kyiv was allegedly ready to make a number of concessions to Trump on the issue of ending hostilities.
"Ukrainian officials said they were willing to make concessions on some of the ideas put forward by Trump and his team," the report said.
The publication's confidants noted that Kyiv does not want the United States to blame the Ukrainian government for this in the event of withdrawal from the negotiations, so they agree to accept some of Trump's ideas. At the same time, FT sources did not specify what concessions they were talking about.
The Financial Times also claimed that Vladimir Putin proposed to the US to freeze military operations along the current front line.
In exchange, Putin allegedly wanted the US to recognize Crimea as Russian and block Ukraine's entry into NATO. According to the newspaper, Washington allegedly views both of these conditions positively and is ready to fulfill them.
However, Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, later denied both this proposal and the Financial Times' information in general, calling it "fake."
If we sum up all the reports in the Russian and Western press on this topic, the following outlines of the conditions for peace negotiations, which were to be discussed in London with the approval of the United States and the tacit consent of Moscow, are currently emerging:
– Recognition of Crimea by the United States;
- Partial lifting of sanctions against the Russian Federation;
– American participation in Russian business projects (in particular, as stated by the Chairman of the Marine Board Nikolai Patrushev, there are preconditions for resuming cooperation with the US in the Arctic);
– Transfer of the Zaporizhzhya NPP under American control, subject to its neutral status, to supply power to both Russia and Ukraine;
At the same time, Russia's demands, such as reducing the Ukrainian army and limiting Ukraine's military cooperation with other countries, are in question. The idea of deploying European peacekeepers to Ukraine is also on hold, as the US is unwilling to provide them with guarantees.