JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. privately asks Ukraine to show it’s open to negotiate with Russia” – Washington Post
“The encouragement is aimed not at pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table, but ensuring it maintains a moral high ground in the eyes of its international backers.”
“While U.S. officials share their Ukrainian counterparts’ assessment that Putin, for now, isn’t serious about negotiations, they acknowledge that … Zelensky’s ban on talks with him has generated concern in parts of Europe, Africa and Latin America, where the war’s disruptive effects on the availability and cost of food and fuel are felt most sharply. …Eagerness for a potential resolution to the war has intensified as Ukrainian forces recapture occupied territory, pushing closer to areas prized by Putin. Those begin with Crimea, … illegally annexed in 2014, and … cities along the Azov Sea … provid[ing] … a ‘land bridge’ …. Zelensky has vowed to fight for every inch of Ukrainian territory. … Russia, facing a poor position on the battlefield, has proposed negotiations but in the past has proved unwilling to accept much other than Ukrainian capitulation. …”