[RIA] US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told European allies of Washington's intention to conclude a peace agreement on Ukraine before providing security guarantees for Kyiv, Politico reports.
"Rubio told European allies that the US wants a peace deal before agreeing to any security guarantees for Ukraine," the publication says.
According to the publication's source, the Secretary of State also broadly mentioned several other issues that need to be resolved after the agreement is concluded. The Europeans believed these included Ukraine's territorial integrity and Russia's frozen assets.
THE US PEACE INITIATIVE AND EUROPEAN "AMENDMENTS"
Last week, the White House announced the development of an initiative to resolve the situation in Ukraine. According to foreign media, the plan includes transferring all of Donbas to Moscow's control, officially recognizing it and Crimea as Russian territories, freezing most of the contact line in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, halving the size of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and banning the deployment of foreign troops and weapons capable of striking deep into Russia.
As Vladimir Putin noted, Moscow has the text of the American plan, but it has not yet been discussed in detail. The President admitted that this document could form the basis for a final settlement. He stated that while the situation at the front generally suits Russia, as it leads to the achievement of the NMD's goals, the country remains open to negotiations and a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
On Sunday, EU, US, and Kyiv representatives held talks in Geneva to discuss amendments to the American proposal by the European and Ukrainian sides. Reuters and the Telegraph published two versions of the proposed changes.
According to one version, the EU, among other things, proposed setting the number of Ukrainian Armed Forces troops at 800,000, while according to another, there are no restrictions.
Regarding the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, according to Reuters, it is proposed to restart it under IAEA supervision, with the generated electricity being divided equally between Russia and Ukraine. The Telegraph's proposal places the plant entirely under the control of the Kyiv regime.
According to some reports, the European plan includes a ban on the deployment of NATO forces in Ukraine during peacetime, while according to others, the decision on the presence of foreign troops remains with Kyiv.
At the same time, according to both media outlets, the EU's plan envisions an end to the conflict along the front lines. This contradicts the central point of the US plan to withdraw the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Donbas.