Volodymyr Zelensky rejected what he said was an attempt by French president Emmanuel Macron to pressure Ukraine to cede some of its territory to Russia, as the Biden administration worked to broker a cease-fire.
Zelensky, speaking with the Italian news channel Rai 1, said Macron’s effort to “suggest some things related to concessions of our sovereignty for the sake of saving face for Putin” was wrong. “We are not ready to save something for someone and lose our territories over it,” he said, according to Ukraine’s Interfax service.
Macron has been speaking with Zelensky and Vladimir Putin to seek a negotiated end to Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. In a clip from a video posted to his YouTube channel and shared to social media, he told his advisers that “it’s the right moment” for him to go to Moscow.
Ce soir, 18h.https://t.co/R0IpMHUnDh pic.twitter.com/jIHO2MHX1f
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 13, 2022
Meanwhile, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said he spoke with his Russian counterpart for the first time since Moscow launched its assault on February 24. Austin, according to the Pentagon, “urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication.”
If the U.S. were to broker a cease-fire at this point, it would likely keep in place Russian territorial gains at a time when a Ukrainian counter-attack is building momentum.
It’s also worth noting that the Russian side hasn’t exactly sought a cease-fire. In fact, Washington has repeatedly asked the Russian defense ministry to hold talks, according to reports from a Pentagon briefing today.
The United States for weeks have been trying to get in touch with senior Russian officials to keep lines of communication open. Russia has rebuffed those efforts repeatedly.
— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) May 13, 2022
The U.K.’s defense intelligence arm said today that Ukrainian forces fended off an attempted river crossing by Russian forces in the Donbas region, where Moscow has concentrated its forces in recent weeks. It also said Russia has failed to make “significant advances” despite focusing on the region and retreating from the Kyiv and Chenihiv regions.
U.K. defense intelligence also has said that the invasion has made Russia’s military “significantly weaker,” given the heavy losses it has suffered.
Austin said last month that a key U.S. goal in supporting Ukraine is to ensure a “weakened” Russia incapable of carrying out future invasions. That’s a goal that has aligned with what Kyiv is trying to achieve.
But there’s likely to be little Ukrainian enthusiasm for an imposed cease-fire that could benefit the Russian military and freeze into place Russian territorial gains in areas where troops are likely carrying out horrific atrocities against civilians. Macron’s pressure to agree to a negotiated cession of Ukrainian territory, as Zelensky said, is also a nonstarter.