2023-02-03T10:43:00+02:00 Politics 2024-09-15T05:55:51+03:00

Ukrainian news

Before providing the tanks United States checks Ukraine’s readiness stop resistance and sign peace with RF - M

Before providing the tanks United States checks Ukraine’s readiness stop resistance and sign peace with RF - Media

The formation of the so-called "tank coalition" between Western countries took place after Ukraine and Russia rejected the U.S. proposal to stop hostilities and sign a peace agreement, which would have provided for Kyiv's renunciation of part of its territory.

The Swiss publication Neue Zürcher Zeitung writes about this with reference to its own sources familiar with the matter.

Two representatives of the German Bundestag told the publication on condition of anonymity that in January U.S. President Joe Biden instructed the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns to visit Kyiv and Moscow to find out the readiness of the parties for peace talks.

In Moscow, Burns allegedly offered representatives of the Russian leadership negotiations in the format "land in exchange for peace."

This means that Russia would have to stop hostilities, for which it would receive about 20% of the territory of Ukraine. This roughly corresponds to the territories of the Luhansk and Donetsk Regions.

During a visit to Kyiv, Burns offered the Ukrainian authorities "peace in exchange for land."

According to the publication, both Kyiv and Moscow rejected the offer made by Burns.

In Ukraine, they refused, arguing that they are not ready for the territory to be divided. And in Russia, the refusal was caused by a high confidence that the war would in any case end with their victory.

According to two German experts, in this way the U.S. leadership tried to avoid a protracted war between Ukraine and Russia.

They also noted that this demonstrates that Ukraine's loss of part of its territory is a higher priority for Washington than the ability of Ukrainian forces to liberate the occupied regions.

The refusal of Ukraine and Russia to hold peace talks on the terms proposed by the United States forced Biden to approve the provision of American tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

It is noted that for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Biden's decision came as a complete surprise. After all, for several months he resisted the decision to transfer heavy armored vehicles to Ukraine.

For this reason, his own announcement about the supply of Leopard II tanks looks "spontaneous" and "not thought through."

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on January 20, the American publication The Washington Post wrote that CIA Director William Burns secretly visited Kyiv, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

At the same time, already on January 25, U.S. President Joe Biden officially announced the provision of M1 Abrams tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

As earlier reported, on the same day, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the delivery of Leopard II tanks to Ukraine.

He also allowed the countries that use German tanks to transfer them to Ukraine.