US officials ‘warn’ Ukrainian government it needs to signal it is open to negotiate with Russia

US officials have reportedly warned the Ukrainian government in private that it needs to signal an openness to negotiating with Russia. Officials in Washington have warned that “Ukraine fatigue” among allies could worsen if Kyiv continues to be closed to negotiations, the Washington Post reported. US officials told the paper that Ukraine’s position on negotiations with Russia is wearing thin among allies who are worried about the economic effects of a protracted war.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine is only prepared to enter negotiations with Russia if its troops leave all parts of Ukraine, including Crimea and the eastern areas of the Donbas, de facto controlled by Russia since 2014, and if those Russians who have committed crimes in Ukraine face trial.

Mr Zelenskiy also made clear that he would not hold negotiations with the current Russian leadership. Last month he signed a decree specifying that Ukraine would only negotiate with a Russian president who has succeeded Vladimir Putin.

The US has so far given Ukraine $18.9 billion (£16.6bon) worth of aid and is ready to give more, saying it will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. However, allies in parts of Europe, Africa and Latin America, US officials told the Post, are concerned by the strain that the war is putting on energy and food prices as well as supply chains.

“Ukraine fatigue is a real thing for some of our partners,” one US official said.

US officials have requested that Kyiv signal its openness to negotiate not to push Ukraine towards the negotiating table immediately but to maintain the support of concerned allies, according to the Post.

For Ukrainian officials the US’s request would mean reneging on several months of rhetoric about the need for a decisive military defeat against Russia in order to secure Ukraine’s security in the long term – a message that strongly resonates with the Ukrainian population who fear Russia will only try again to capture the country in the future.

Meanwhile, Russia is suffering heavy losses in continuing “fierce” attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and is preparing new assaults on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Mr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.

“Very fierce Russian attacks on Donetsk region are continuing. The enemy is suffering serious losses there,” Mr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

He said he believed Russia was “concentrating forces and means for a possible repetition of mass attacks on our infrastructure, energy in the first instance”.

Ukraine’s military said on Sunday that residents of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied city of Kherson received warning messages on their phones urging them to evacuate as soon as possible. Russian soldiers warned civilians that Ukraine’s army was preparing for a massive attack and told people to leave for the city’s right bank immediately. Ukrainian forces have been pushing forward in the south as Russia intensifies its attacks on Kyiv.

Russian forces are preparing for a Ukrainian counter-offensive to seize back the southern city of Kherson, which was captured during the early days of the invasion. In September, Russia illegally annexed Kherson as well as three other regions of Ukraine and subsequently declared martial law in the four provinces.

The Kremlin-installed administration in Kherson already has moved tens of thousands of civilians out of the city. Nataliya Humenyuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Forces, told state television that Russia has been “occupying and evacuating” Kherson simultaneously, trying to convince Ukrainians that they were leaving when in fact they’re digging in. “There are defence units that have dug in there quite powerfully, a certain amount of equipment has been left, firing positions have been set up. Russian forces are also digging in in the east of Ukraine. "

Meanwhile, Russian attacks have almost completely destroyed the power plants that serve the city of Bakhmut and the nearby town of Soledar. Shelling killed one civilian and wounded three, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the region’s Ukrainian governor, said at the weekend.

In Bakhmut, 15,000 remaining residents were living under daily shelling and without water or power, according to local media. The city has been under attack for months, but the bombardment picked up after Russian forces experienced setbacks during Ukrainian counter-offensives in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. The front line is now on Bakhmut’s outskirts, where mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a shadowy Russian military company, are reported to be leading the charge. – Guardian/Reuters, AP

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