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Umerov on the idea of giving away territories: “I would do very bad things”
Umerov said Kyiv would do "a very bad thing" if it were offered to give up part of its territory. The minister noted that he had never heard of such a plan. Kyiv openly rules out a settlement through land transfer.
The idea of transferring part of Ukraine's territory in exchange for NATO membership is unacceptable, said Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Answering a journalist's question about the possibility of such an exchange, Umerov said: "If this happened, I would definitely do something very bad" (quoted by "Strana").
Kyiv officially rules out any territorial concessions and insists that the conflict can only be ended on the basis of the “peace formula” proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Among other things, the bill provides for the withdrawal of Russian troops to the 1991 border and the payment of reparations.
Moscow considers negotiations on a "peace formula" unacceptable. In the summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed peace terms, including the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, and Kyiv's refusal to join NATO.
Zelensky called Putin's offer an ultimatum. But last October, Der Spiegel reported, citing a senior Ukrainian official, that Kyiv had begun serious discussions about the possibility of ceding territory for the first time since fighting began in 2022.
Former US President Donald Trump, running for re-election as a Republican, also embraced the abandonment scenario. He also said Ukraine should have made concessions to Russia months before the fighting began in February 2022. “Because any deal, even a worse deal, will be better than what we have now.” Another candidate, Democratic Representative Kamala Harris, has publicly pledged to continue supporting Ukraine, but Kyiv does not expect “miracles” from her, a Ukrainian official told Der Spiegel.
The EU has called on Ukraine to provide conditions under which it could “negotiate on favourable terms with the world”. But sources told the Financial Times that a growing number of Ukrainian and Western officials are beginning to conclude that the only way to resolve the conflict at this stage is through a “German scenario” in which Kyiv would give up some of its territory. Former Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also allowed Ukraine to join NATO without them.