Missed peace in Ukraine. How a draft agreement could have ended war
A peace agreement could have been reached a few weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, claims "Die Welt". The terms for ending the war were outlined in a 17-page agreement draft, which the parties had agreed upon on 15 April 2022.
The "Die Welt" editorial team discovered a document containing terms for reaching peace. The newspaper reports that only a few issues remained unresolved, which were meant to be discussed in person at the summit by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but that meeting never took place.
In the treaty negotiations, Ukraine was to commit to "permanent neutrality", effectively renouncing any membership in military alliances. This would exclude the country's accession to NATO. However, according to Article 3 of the document, nothing directly prevented Kyiv from becoming a member of the EU.
Ukraine had agreed never to "receive, produce or purchase" nuclear weapons, not to allow foreign weapons and soldiers into the country, and not to make its military infrastructure, including airports and seaports, available to any other country.
Russia was no longer to attack Ukraine
In response, Russia promised that it would not attack Ukraine again. To assure Kyiv of this, Moscow agreed that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia itself, could provide Ukraine with comprehensive security guarantees.
In the event of a renewed armed attack on Ukraine, the guarantor states were committed to supporting Kyiv in its right to self-defence, as recorded in the Charter of the United Nations, for up to three days. This assistance could be done through "joint actions" of all or some of the guarantor powers. Russia demanded that all guarantor states agree to activate the support mechanism in the event of an attack. This would give Moscow the right to veto, bypassing the defence mechanism. Furthermore, Moscow rejected the Ukrainian demand to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine by the guarantor states in case of an attack.
During the negotiations, Russia was willing to withdraw from Ukraine, except for Crimea and parts of Donbas, which would be excluded from the security guarantees. Putin and Zelensky were to discuss the withdrawal details directly.
"It was the best deal we could have had."
"It was the best deal we could have had," said a member of the Ukrainian delegation who wishes to remain anonymous, in a conversation with "Die Welt".
"Die Welt" analyzes in the publication that Ukraine has been on the defensive for several months and has suffered heavy losses. It is noted that, looking back, Ukraine had a stronger negotiating position earlier than it does now. The analysis suggests that if the war had ended approximately two months after it started, it would have saved the lives of countless human beings.
