The US says Ukraine should accept the settlement it has negotiated with Moscow, so everyone can get on with building “a better Ukraine.” That’s the right goal, but if the deal is written as reported, it wouldn’t be achievable.

Axar.az informs this was written by opinion columnist Marc Champion on Bloomberg.

" Although the Trump administration’s proposal hasn’t been published, a report in the Daily Telegraph says it consists of seven main points. The top two are revealing: an immediate ceasefire, followed by direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

So, this isn’t the grand peace deal US officials say it is, rather an acceptance of Russian terms for the unconditional ceasefire Donald Trump proposed more than a month ago. Negotiations on a full settlement were supposed to follow, but the administration is so eager to get something done that it appears to have granted most of Russia’s war demands in advance.

These include a guarantee that Ukraine will never join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; that the US will recognize Crimea, which the Kremlin annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as sovereign Russian territory; that President Vladimir Putin’s forces will retain control of virtually all other Ukrainian lands they have seized by force since then; and that the US would lift economic sanctions.

There’s little here for Kyiv, except some minor territorial swaps and permission to access its own rivers. There is, however, a substantial benefit included for Washington, which would gain control over Ukraine’s mineral resources and major infrastructure, together with 50% of the revenue they produce. The US would also take control of Ukraine’s massive Enerhodar nuclear plant, currently under Russian occupation.

The issue here isn’t that these are all conditions Ukraine can’t accept. Zelenskiy and other officials in Kyiv understand this war will end with its de facto acceptance of Russian control over swathes of Ukrainian territory. Most European leaders also understand Ukraine won’t be joining NATO. And a deal committing the US to involvement in growing Ukraine’s postwar mining industries and infrastructure would be great, if that also included a commitment to invest.

What’s unacceptable is that core concessions are being handed over to Russia in exchange for nothing more solid than a ceasefire that may not last. Putin’s invasion is being rewarded on the false premise that its conquest of all Ukraine is otherwise inevitable, and that Kyiv and its allies have no cards to play," the author writes.

Marc Champion also outlines what the deal should include if it is to help build a better Ukraine rather than merely strengthen Russia.

Please read the full article here.