In the West, they said Ukraine is ready to accept the loss of Donbas

Ukrainians seem prepared to accept the loss of territory in exchange for security guarantees.

This was written by analyst Marc Champion in a column for Bloomberg.

“Ukrainians appear ready to reconcile themselves to the loss of territory in exchange for guarantees of peace and security after four years of exhausting warfare. But it’s unclear (…) whether they would accept Moscow’s terms in a referendum and elections that Trump wants to hold in Ukraine in May, in order to achieve a ceasefire by June,” Champion wrote.

He added that Russia “continues to demand” that Kyiv accept limits on the size of its armed forces, hand over several cities in Donbas that “constitute Ukraine’s main defensive lines in the east,” and exclude from security guarantees any NATO commitments to Ukraine. Champion stressed that the situation “could still change,” and said that “substantive negotiations are only beginning now.”

The analyst also wrote that U.S. President Donald Trump is presenting Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a choice: either accept the proposed terms or keep resisting without American air-defense missiles, U.S. intelligence sharing, and U.S. communications networks.

Trilateral talks between representatives of Russia, Ukraine, and the United States are taking place in Geneva on February 17–18. Reuters reported that the February 17 session lasted more than four hours, after which the delegations’ military representatives held consultations. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council secretary Ruslan Umerov said discussions on February 17 focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible solutions.” U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff also spoke of “substantial progress” in the talks.

Also on February 17, Zelenskyy wrote that Ukraine is ready to “move quickly toward a достойное (decent/dignified) agreement” to end the conflict with Russia.