According to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Ukraine is ready for a ceasefire along the current front line, but without recognizing the loss of territory.
This was reported by URA-Inform with reference to Corriere della Serе.
In return, Kyiv is demanding security guarantees from the United States and integration into the European Union. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently visited Italy again to meet with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Zelenskyy accepted an invitation to come to Rome on the evening of October 9, following the canceled leaders’ meeting in Ramstein. During the visit, he will also meet with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, before heading to talks with Meloni at the Villa Doria Pamphili.
Zelensky next plans to visit the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis, and then head to Berlin. His schedule also includes a meeting with British Prime Minister Kier Starmer in London.
Such activity of the Ukrainian president testifies to his efforts to find international support for achieving peace. Zelensky expressed confidence that Ukraine has a chance for peace and stability already in the autumn-winter period, and stressed that the situation at the front provides opportunities for active actions to end the war by 2025.
For now, Ukrainian forces retain a numerical advantage in the Donbas, but the situation with the operation in the Kursk region remains tense. Initially intended to boost morale and secure support from allies, significant Ukrainian forces are now partially isolated in Russia, making it difficult to provide assistance in the Donbas. Leaving the Kursk region could be costly for Ukraine, as there is concern that Russian forces could redeploy to the Sumy region.
Zelenskyy now wants to convince the Europeans precisely at the political level. For example, he knows that he will never be able to officially renounce the occupied territories. However, he would be prepared to cease fire along the current line – without recognizing a new official border – in exchange for certain commitments from the West,” the newspaper writes.
The issue concerns Western security guarantees similar to those the United States has provided to Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. However, these efforts are complicated by the fact that Vladimir Putin remains dissatisfied with the territories already captured and seeks not only to preserve them, but also to destabilize Ukraine for the purpose of political control.
In turn, Bloomberg believes that Zelensky is looking for a “more flexible” approach to ending the war.