The United States exerted significant pressure on Ukraine to agree to cede Donetsk Oblast to Russia. Washington believed Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s promise that he would stop the war after obtaining the territory.
Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba made the remarks in an interview with Novyny.LIVE.
According to the diplomat, this was the scenario he had in mind when he previously warned that Ukraine might have to face agreements that would be unacceptable to the public.
Kuleba said Putin had assured the US side that Russia would halt its offensive if Ukraine relinquished Donetsk Oblast. US representatives then began pressuring Kyiv to accept the concession.
“We were subjected to enormous pressure over this issue,” the former minister said.
The situation changed after an opinion poll showed that Ukrainians would not support relinquishing territory. Kuleba said public opposition gave President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a strong foundation for resisting external pressure.
He added that Zelenskyy himself was unwilling to make territorial concessions or trust Putin’s promises. The proposal to hand Donetsk Oblast to Russia subsequently faded from the negotiating agenda.
According to Kuleba, the parties had moved closer to common ground on many issues during earlier negotiations but ultimately reached an impasse over territory. The lack of agreement on Donetsk Oblast effectively brought the entire negotiating process to a halt.
At the same time, Kuleba said Ukraine had established the limits of what was possible in talks with the United States and Europe and secured Donald Trump’s promise of legally binding security guarantees. Russia, meanwhile, tested whether it could achieve its objectives through non-military means and received a negative answer.
