Opinion | Amid Russia-Ukraine conflict, the sweet smell of peace in the spring air
By Augustus K. Yeung
Introduction
Russia is expected and has obviously gained the upper hand in this controversial conflict, turning the world into two divisions, with the United States and its Western allies imposing sanctions, and other nations urging the warring factions to get down on the negotiating table and work out a resolution for peace.
However divided the world may be, unanimous desire for peace is the norm: This largest-scale war conflict since World War II within a month has displaced 2.6 million Ukrainians…with the list of human miseries piling up. It has just got to stop. Against this backdrop, though slow in response, President Zelensky has finally made up his mind.
"Ukraine could declare neutrality and offer security guarantees to Russia to secure peace 'without delay', President Volodymyr Zelensky has said ahead of another planned round of talks, although he said only a face-to-face meeting with Russia's leader could end the war," according to Agencies. ("Talks offer hope of peace". Tuesday, March 29, 2022)
While hinting at possible concessions in an interview with independent Russian media outlets, Zelensky stressed Ukraine's priority was ensuring its sovereignty and its "territorial integrity"—preventing Russia from carving up the country, something Ukraine and the West say could now be Moscow's goal.
But he added: "Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state – we are ready to go for it."
The Ukraine leader has suggested as much before, but rarely so forcefully, and the latest remarks come as the two sides said talks would resume today amid warnings the situation in the besieged city of Mariupol was now "catastrophic". About 170,000 civilians there are encircled by Russian forces, with ever-dwindling supplies of food, water and medicine.
France, Greece and Turkey are hoping to launch a mass evacuation of civilians within days, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, who has sought an agreement from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
With Russia's much-larger military hampered and humbled by fierce Ukrainian resistance, today's talks in Istanbul, Turkey will test whether battlefield setbacks have tempered Moscow's demands. The fate of Russian-occupied Donbas and Crimea, as well as fundamental disagreements about Kyiv's alignment with the West, are again set to be the focus of negotiations.
For his part, Putin has avoided clearly defining the goals of his invasion, saying he wants to "demilitarize and denazify" but not occupy Ukraine. Commentators hope that vagueness will now give him more room to accept an agreement, claim victory and end the war.
Russia has long demanded Ukraine drop any hope of joining the Western NATO alliance, which Moscow sees as a threat. Zelensky said the question of neutrality, which would keep Ukraine out of NATO or other military alliances, should be put to Ukrainian voters in a referendum after the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Zelensky has also stressed that Ukraine needs security guarantees of its own as part of any deal.
"We must come to an agreement with the President of the Russian Federation, and in order to reach an agreement, he needs to get out of there on his own feet…and come to meet me," he said in an interview that Russian barred its media from publishing.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the two presidents could meet, but only after the key elements of a potential deal were negotiated. "The meeting is necessary once we have clarity regarding solutions on all key issues," Lavrov said in an interview with Serbian media. He said Russia needed concrete results.
Ukraine said it was pausing evacuations of civilians from was-scarred regions because intelligence reports suggested Russian troops were planning attacks on humanitarian routes. "Our intelligence has reported provocations by the occupiers on routes of humanitarian corridors. Therefore, for reasons of public safety, we are not opening humanitarian corridors today," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on social media.
In an overnight video address to his nations, Zelensky said Ukraine sought peace "without delay" in the Istanbul talks. Negotiators were expected to arrive there.
Earlier talks have failed to make progress on ending a more than month-old war that has killed thousands and driven over 10 million Ukrainians from their home, including almost 4 million from their country.
It remains to be seen whether talks will be hampered by US President Joe Biden's shock declaration on Saturday that Putin "cannot remain in power". The ad-libbed remark sparked outrage in Moscow and seemed to undercut Biden's own efforts for the West to present a united front.
With Russia's offensive now stalled in many areas, its troops have resorted to pummeling Ukrainian towns and cities with rockets and artillery in a grinding war. Fierce fighting has raged on the outskirts of Kyiv, but Russian troops remain miles from the city center, their aim of quickly encircling the capital faltering.
In Stoyanka village near Kyiv, Ukrainian soldiers Serhiy Udod said Russian troops had taken up defensive positions and suffered heavy losses.
He said, "Probably they thought it would be like Crimea", which Russia annexed in 2014. "But, here it's not like in Crimea. We are not happy to see them. Here they suffer and get killed."
A fiercer than expected Ukrainian resistance, bolstered by weapons from the United States and other Western allies, has been credited with bogging Russian forces down. But Zelensky has made exasperated pleas for Western countries to do more, including sending fighter jets, accusing political leaders on Sunday of lacking courage.
Countries from NATO alliance have been hesitant to give Zelensky some of the more powerful equipment he has begged for, for fear of triggering a much wider war.
(Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse. South China Morning Post. Tuesday, March 29, 2022)
Conclusion
Had President Zelensky not been misled by Washington into believing that military aids and NATO membership are almost guaranteed, this war would have been ended, or even prevented long ago.
The conflict's winner is neither Mr. Putin nor Zelensky; it is President Joe Biden who wants badly to sidetrack the Americans back home into a patriot's war in Eastern Europe that would enable him to unite America, an election campaign pledge he made, but has yet to deliver.
In this conflict, the American president invested less but might reap the most in return—far more than any other parties at home and abroad. He has a good reason to start the war and stall the peace talks.
President Xi Jinping's strenuous effort to resist being forcibly pulled onto Joe Biden's sanctions bandwagon may pay off sooner than expected.
The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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