BERLIN, Dec 16: US negotiators still want Ukraine to cede control of the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions as a condition for peace talks with Russia, an official briefed on the discussions told AFP on Monday.
Kyiv is pushing back against Washington's demand that it pull troops from the two regions collectively known as Donbas, which Russia has been unable to capture since invading in February 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants territory," the official told AFP, adding the United States was demanding that Ukraine "withdraw" from the regions and that Kyiv was refusing.
"It's a bit striking that the Americans are taking the Russians' position on this issue," the official added.
As Russia intensifies push for Donbas, Ukraine rules out ceasef...
Moscow controls almost all of the Lugansk region and about 80 percent of the Donetsk region, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
A poll by published Monday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) based on 550 responces showed that 75 percent of Ukrainians oppose giving up Donbas.
Talks to end the war between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner continued for a second day in Berlin on Monday.
Ukraine's NATO ambitions, the future of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and elections were also discussed, the official told AFP.
The official refuted German media reporting that Ukraine had dropped its bid to join NATO during the Berlin talks: "That part about NATO is not true," the source said.
"They aren't providing details on security guarantees yet; that's one of the issues Ukraine is trying to clarify. If not NATO, then what? Without an answer to that, there can be no answer about NATO," the source said.
Commenting on US President Donald Trump's calls to hold elections, the official said that "we can hold elections if they insist. But that's a security issue."
"Are the Americans ready to pressure Putin so that he agrees to a ceasefire? Because so far he has been refusing it."
When it comes to the Zaporizhzhia, "Overall, the concept is that, in one form or another, America could take part in managing the plant, restoration, and electricity supply," the official said about Europe's largest nuclear plant, under Moscow's control.
The source added that the proposal for a general amnesty for all parties involved in the war was dropped from the peace plan.
