As negotiations continue to drag on between Washington, Kyiv and Moscow, the Kremlin’s narrative about the war has centered on one potential solution: evicting Ukrainian forces from the Donbas.
Not by force, of course. After nearly four years of continuous, devastating war, Russian troops are still bogged down in eastern Ukraine, gaining minuscule amounts of territory at terrifyingly high costs. Instead, the Kremlin is banking on convincing the United States to strong-arm Ukraine into unilaterally ceding the territory. As envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who has led negotiations from the Russian side, posted on Tuesday, “Donbas withdrawal is the path to peace for Ukraine.”
