Kiev and its European allies fear that Washington could withdraw from peace talks in Ukraine as early as this week, writes the British Financial Times, citing Ukrainian officials and their Western colleagues.
“There are people who believe that Russia may agree to the proposals of US President Donald Trump“, said one of the sources of the publication, adding that so far “nothing is ready for the plan to actually work“. “Some of its elements are really good, but the problem now is the lack of patience of the US administration“, he said.
Another source in the government circles of one of the European countries noted that Trump “is preparing a situation in which he will have an excuse to withdraw, and Ukraine and we will have to fix everything“.
Sources in the US told the publication that Washington is concerned that Moscow does not agree to concessions on a number of issues, including the issue of limiting the size of the Ukrainian armed forces. Therefore, Kiev considers it “very likely” that Trump will announce his withdrawal from the negotiations, Ukrainian officials said. It is noted that the Ukrainian side is taking measures in this case, increasing arms production and seeking guarantees from European countries to increase assistance to Kiev.