Russia-Ukraine Negotiations

The Biden administration has quietly given Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia — solely near the area of Kharkiv — using U.S.-provided weapons, two U.S. officials and two other people familiar with the move said Thursday, a major reversal that will help Ukraine to better defend its second-largest city. “The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S. weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them,” a U.S. official said, adding that the policy of not allowing long-range strikes inside Russia “has not changed”...

<excerpt> But then if that doesn't work, I do think that we need to think about a strategy that would wind the conflict down, bring the western part of Ukraine into NATO, and then work diplomatically to bring the rest in later...

Do you imagine it would be possible to bring parts of Ukraine into NATO?

I think so. We've already said that Ukraine will join NATO one day, so there's agreement on that is the end state.

There are also historical examples, like South Korea. It was brought into an alliance with the United States, even though it was still technically at war with its neighbour, North Korea. In fact, the Scowcroft Centre at the Atlantic Council that I manage was [trying] to understand what lessons learned might apply to Ukraine. </excerpt>

Swiss President Viola Amherd says the Ukraine peace conference that her country is organizing for later this month is just the beginning of negotiations and would likely be followed by talks with Russia. "It is clear to us that we will not sign a peace agreement at the end of the conference," Amherd said in comments published by Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper on Friday. Both parties need to be at the table for peace, she said, referring to the fact that Russia has not been invited to attend the Swiss summit. "Russia could then be present at a possible follow-up conference," she said...

Ukraine will be in focus at next month's NATO summit in Washington. And Kyiv has a lot of expectations. “Ukraine awaits decisions that will help significantly strengthen the country's defense and the ability to repel Russian aggression, as well as become a safeguard against repeated attacks in the future,” Olga Stefanishyna, Ukrainian deputy prime minister on EU and Euro-Atlantic integration, told POLITICO late Thursday. “We also expect specific decisions regarding Ukraine's membership in NATO, in a package with other guarantees of continuity of military aid and increased interoperability,” Stefanishyna said...

President Vladimir Putin says that it might be possible to reach a deal with Ukraine based on the failed Istanbul Communique and taking into account recent territorial changes in Ukraine. The Istanbul Communique was dead by April, 2022. Could the deal be revived? Was Putin serious in suggesting it as a basis for a settlement with Ukraine?...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has expressed cautious optimism about a peace conference for Ukraine being held in Switzerland later this month. "We will discuss principles for a just and lasting peace there," Scholz said on Tuesday at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin...

German populist politician Sahra Wagenknecht, whose newly founded Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party debuted with 6.2% of the vote in the European Parliament elections, again called for an end to aid for Ukraine on Tuesday. "We need ceasefire negotiations instead of more taxpayers' money from Germany for weapons to prolong the war," Wagenknecht said on Tuesday...

Nearly half of Ukrainians believe the war with Russia is at a stalemate, according to a new poll, but nearly three-quarters said they were “very confident” or “somewhat confident” that Ukraine “will eventually liberate all of its territories” — a potentially unrealistic expectation but one that suggests little willingness to surrender land now occupied by Moscow’s forces...