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Ukrainian officials have drawn up a plan that involves starting peace talks with Russia. He was introduced to CIA director William Burns during a secret trip to Kyiv in June, media reported, citing The Washington Post (WP) and his sources.
How transmits BBC, the Ukrainian authorities presented the head of the CIA with an “ambitious plan” – to return the territories occupied by Russia and begin negotiations with Moscow “before the end of the year.”
Nothing was previously known about Burns’ trip to Kyiv. According to media reports, he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leadership of Ukrainian intelligence when the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a counteroffensive, but “have not yet deployed most of their assault brigades, trained and equipped by the West.”
In turn, one of the officials WP spoke to, the head of the CIA, came to Kiev to “reaffirm the willingness” of the Biden administration to continue to provide intelligence to help Ukraine defend itself.
By the way, the publication writes that Ukrainian military officials are confident that by the fall they will be able to regain “significant territory”, move artillery and missile systems to the border of Crimea, and then start negotiations with Moscow.
“Russia will negotiate only if it feels threatened,” they say in Kyiv.
Earlier, in April 2023, Telegraf wrote that Ukraine had recently made the most unambiguous statement about Ukraine’s interest in the negotiations. In an interview with the Financial Times, Andriy Sibiga, deputy head of Zelensky’s office, confirmed his readiness to discuss peace with Russia. But there is a nuance.
“If we manage to achieve our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we are on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open a diplomatic page to discuss this issue,” the Ukrainian official said. Thus, the authorities in Kyiv agreed to negotiate the fate of the peninsula, but only after the Armed Forces of Ukraine were able to conduct a successful counteroffensive.
