BERLIN, December 2. /TASS/. Ukraine may possibly make temporary territorial concessions to end the conflict, former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
"We need a ceasefire line that should ideally include all the territories currently controlled by Russia <...> However, actually we do not see that this can be realized in the near future," the head of this year's Munich Security Conference said in an interview with Table.Media. Stoltenberg also noted that Ukraine will need "security guarantees" after the ceasefire is reached.
The issue of borders and 'the NATO umbrella'
On November 29, Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview with the Sky News TV channel that the "hot phase of the war" could be ended if Kiev-controlled territories were placed under "the NATO umbrella." Ukraine had not considered such a proposal officially, as it had not been formally voiced, he said. Zelensky's statement immediately provoked a strong reaction in Ukraine. Ukraine’s Strana news outlet noted that this was Zelensky’s first statement since February 2022 indicating he was ready to end the conflict without the return of the lost territories.
Previously, Ukrainian authorities repeatedly stated that Ukraine could not become a NATO member without some of its territories, and had reiterated their readiness to continue the conflict until the country reached its 1991 borders. Only this week, Ukrainian Presidential Office Head Andrey Yermak admitted that Ukraine could start negotiations with Russia without demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops to the 1991 borders. He said the the situation should be returned at least to the state of February 23, 2022.
On June 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined the country’s conditions for settling the situation in Ukraine at a meeting with Russia's Foreign Ministry. These included the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbass and Novorossiya and Kiev's refusal to join NATO. In addition, Russia demands that all Western sanctions against it be lifted and insists that Ukraine commit to a non-aligned, nuclear-free status. Putin indicated that if Ukraine and the West refuse these conditions, they could change in the future. Kiev rejected the Russian peace plan. After the massive Ukrainian attack on the Kursk Region that began on August 6, the Russian leader said that negotiations with a government that attacks civilians are pointless.