Zelensky may agree to withdraw troops from Donbas in talks with Russia

Kyiv does not rule out that in negotiations with Russia, Ukraine may have to make its most painful compromise—giving up control over part of the territory in the eastern part of Donetsk Oblast.

This was written on February 12 by Simon Shuster in The Atlantic.

According to him, two advisers to Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine might be ready to accept the “most difficult concession”—in effect, to agree to the loss of control over part of the territory in the eastern portion of Donetsk Oblast.

To legitimize such a compromise, people in the president’s circle, the author says, discussed the idea of holding a referendum on a peace plan as early as this spring, so that Ukrainians could vote on an agreement that would entail a territorial loss. The referendum could also be combined with presidential elections—as a way to ensure high turnout and to give Zelenskyy a “renewed mandate” for the first time since 2019, because after the start of the full-scale war, national elections were postponed indefinitely.

At the same time, in the same piece Zelenskyy effectively outlines a red line: he says he is generally not against the “referendum plus elections” formula, but only on the condition that it is the “right deal,” adding: “I don’t think a bad agreement should be put to a referendum.” He also links the topic of elections during wartime to Moscow’s interest in “getting rid” of him.

Zelenskyy explains his position as a desire to show the United States that Kyiv is ready to support American proposals that speed up the peace process, and says that Ukraine is “ready for both elections and a referendum”—but only if there is a ceasefire and firm security guarantees.