Ukraine Peace Talks Get Some Help From Putin
Russia is letting Zelenskiy lay out “red lines” to convince voters he can compromise without capitulating.
On the march for … what exactly?
Photographer: Aleksey Filippov/AFP/Getty Images
Under constant pressure from protesters who fear a “surrender” to Russia, the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is laying out what it calls its red lines in peace talks on eastern Ukraine. A number of these are hard for Russia to accept, but that doesn’t mean the peace process is doomed.
Unlike in the last three years or so, both sides actually want to end the conflict, and share the goal of having the Kyiv government re-establish sovereignty over the regions in eastern Ukraine now held by pro-Moscow separatists. The question that any further talks must settle is to what extent Russia will be able to maintain its influence in the area, known as the Donbas. That’s a gray area in which reality is likely to defy any formal red lines.