US links security guarantees for Ukraine to peace deal ceding Donbas: FT report

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has signalled to Ukraine that US security guarantees depend on Kyiv agreeing to a peace deal likely requiring it to cede the Donbas region to Russia, the Financial Times reported on Jan 27, citing eight people familiar with the talks.

Washington has also indicated that it could offer Ukraine more weapons to strengthen its peacetime army if Kyiv agreed to withdraw forces from the parts of the eastern region it controls, the newspaper said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan 25 that a US document on security guarantees for Ukraine was

“100 per cent ready”,

and Kyiv is now awaiting a time and place for it to be signed.

Mr Zelensky has consistently said that Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be upheld in any peace deal to end the war.

Ukraine is increasingly uncertain whether Washington will commit to security guarantees, a senior Ukrainian official told FT, saying the US “stops each time the security guarantees can be signed”.

Kyiv wants the guarantees confirmed before conceding any territory.

However, the US believes Ukraine must give up the Donbas for the war to end and is not pressuring Russian President Vladimir Putin to drop that demand, the report added.

“This is totally false – the US’ only role in the peacemaking process is to bring both sides together to make a deal,” Ms Anna Kelly, the deputy White House press secretary, told FT.

A person familiar with the US position told the newspaper that Washington was “not trying to force any territorial concessions upon Ukraine”, adding that security guarantees depend on both sides agreeing to a peace deal.

The Kremlin said on Jan 26 the question of territory remained fundamental to any deal to end the fighting in Ukraine, TASS news agency reported after weekend talks in Abu Dhabi. REUTERS