Following the publication of the US proposal to end the war in Ukraine, Berlin, Paris and London, as well as the leadership in Kiev, emphasized that the Ukrainian army must continue to be able to defend the country’s sovereignty. According to the federal government, in a telephone conversation on Friday, the four heads of state and government reaffirmed the goal of “protecting the vital interests of Europe and Ukraine in the long term.”
This includes “that the line of contact is the starting point for reaching an understanding and that Ukraine’s armed forces must remain capable of effectively defending Ukraine’s sovereignty.”he continued.
Both of these points are called into question by the draft proposed by America. On the one hand, the resolution demands that the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the annexed Crimean peninsula be “de facto recognized as Russian territory”; In addition, the Ukrainian army must withdraw from the Donetsk region it controls, that is, withdraw from the current line of contact.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) canceled the pledge on Friday and then discussed the latest US steps in a joint phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The four heads of state and government basically welcomed US efforts to end the war in Ukraine and, in particular, its willingness to “provide strong security guarantees to Ukraine”.
However, they reiterated that any agreement affecting European countries, the European Union or NATO requires “the consent of European partners or Allied consensus”.
