Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
‘Freeze’ Russia’s gains
Vance earlier gave the fullest public explanation of the US plan so far, saying that the deal would “freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today.”
“The Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own,” Vance said while on a trip to India.
Freezing the frontlines would mean Ukraine losing huge areas to Russian occupation.
The vice president did not explain what territory Russia — which seized Crimea in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion targeting the rest of the country in 2022 — would have to give up.
Washington has “issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians” and “it’s time for them to either say ‘yes’, or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance said.
Growing speculation over Washington being ready to recognize Russian rule over Crimea as a sweetener to get Moscow to stop its invasion has alarmed European capitals.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office told AFP on Wednesday that “Ukraine’s territorial integrity and European aspirations are very strong requirements for Europeans.”
A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters “it has to be up to Ukraine to decide its future” and “we will never walk away from Ukraine.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy had been due to lead a meeting of foreign ministers in London on Wednesday.
The talks were then downgraded to “official level” — a sign of the difficulties surrounding the negotiations.
US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff is to visit Moscow this week.
Russian bombing
The latest diplomatic wrangling comes after a fresh wave of Russian air strikes that shattered a brief Easter truce.
A Russian drone strike on a bus transporting workers in the southeastern city of Marganets killed nine people and wounded at least 30 more, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor said Wednesday.
Ukrainian authorities also reported strikes in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava and Odesa. In light of the attacks, Zelenskyy called for an “immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire.”
In Russia, one person was reported wounded by shelling in the Belgorod region.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
