“A peace deal on Ukraine may include protection of the UOC and the Russian-speaking population,” – said the U.S. representative

U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO Matthew Whitaker stated that a possible peace agreement on Ukraine could include protections for parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and for Russian-speaking Ukrainians.

He said this in an interview with Fox Business.

“We will have to secure agreement from both sides, whatever that settlement looks like — whether it’s, for example, the protection of Russian churches in Ukraine (as the official phrased it, although the UOC insists it severed all ties with the Russian Orthodox Church after the invasion — Ed.) or Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine. I believe there is already a certain framework,” Whitaker said.

According to him, Ukraine is ready to freeze the conflict along the current front line in exchange for security guarantees.

“They are ready to freeze the front line if they get security guarantees,” he said.

In his view, a condition that could enable Kyiv to halt the war might be the presence of European military personnel serving as instructors or peacekeepers. The diplomat also acknowledged obstacles to Ukraine’s NATO accession, but stated that the time for this “has not yet come.”

It should be recalled that demands regarding language and the church are regularly raised by Russia. Western media previously reported that Russia even demanded recognition of Russian as an official language in Alaska, to which Volodymyr Zelensky responded with a refusal.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit has been filed in Ukraine seeking to ban the UOC.