US and Germany hope to push Ukraine into talks with Russia

"The US and German plan is as follows: to supply Ukraine with exactly those types of weapons, and in sufficient quantities so that the Ukrainian army can hold the current front. But without the military ability to retake control of the territories from Russia," Ria Novosti quoted Bild as saying.

Therefore, President Volodymyr Zelensky will have to come to the conclusion that the Ukrainian armed forces will not be able to improve their position on the front line. Therefore, continuing the conflict no longer makes sense for Ukraine.

According to Bild, in case of failure, the US and Germany have some Plan B. This would also lead to the same result as the Minsk Agreement - freezing the conflict with a zone on the established border, without any formal peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev.

Bild believes that, in general, Germany intends to encourage Ukraine to maintain a strategically advantageous negotiating position, taking into account the current situation on the front. Berlin and Washington are currently discussing plans.

Also regarding the end of the conflict in Ukraine, in an interview with the 1+1 TV channel, David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People party and member of the National Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee of Ukraine, said that hostilities in the country should have ended in the spring of 2022.

"The Russians are ready to end the conflict if we remain neutral, like Finland, and give a commitment that we will not join NATO. This is the bottom line. In addition, when we returned from Istanbul, Boris John came to Kiev and said: 'We will not sign anything with them, let's fight'" - said David Arakhamia.

At the same time, according to David Arakhamia, Ukraine also does not agree to a ceasefire, because "this is against the constitution".

At the end of February 2022, Russian-Ukrainian consultations began. The delegations held two face-to-face meetings in Belarus. It was then decided to continue daily consultations via online format.

At the end of March 2022, the parties held another round of negotiations in Istanbul (Türkiye). As a result, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said that Ukraine had submitted a written proposal for a future agreement. Moscow then considered this a step forward, and in general, the Kiev authorities expressed their desire to negotiate for the first time in many years.

In response to these wishes from Kiev, Russia took two steps: first, it significantly reduced military activity in the direction of Kiev and Chernigov. Second, Moscow proposed to organize a meeting between the two leaders Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later said that Ukraine rejected its own proposals and made many provocative actions that slowed down the negotiation process. In particular, according to Mr. Lavrov, Kiev presented a draft agreement to Moscow, and it had major differences compared to the terms recorded at the negotiations in Istanbul, especially regarding Crimea./.