Certain Ukrainians want to freeze Donbas conflict, French diplomat says

Certain Ukrainian officials want a frozen conflict to emerge in Donbas as the best option to resolve the warfare, French Ambassador to Ukraine Isabelle Dumont told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency in an interview published on Nov. 29. She said she opposes this option and favors the fulfillment of the Minsk Accords. They call for returning the occupied territory of Donbas to the Ukrainian state under conditions of de facto autonomy.

“Those who support freezing the conflict: are they thinking about the fate of those who remain on the other side, or those who live near the frontlines? Or those internally displaced throughout the country?,” she said. “It’s important to renew human and economic ties as quickly as possible with these territories.”

Zenon Zawada: Dumont’s call for “renewing human and economic ties” is far easier said than done. We don’t believe this approach will be effective in this corner of the world and it further confirms the Western establishment’s consistent inability to understand Russian geopolitical aims and tactics.

We are confident that there are officials close to Ukrainian president who want to freeze the conflict and are urging him to consider this option, rather than fulfilling the Minsk Accords. Their implementation is fiercely opposed by nationalists, as well as a large number of intellectuals who favor Euro-integration.

We share the position that a frozen conflict is the best resolution to the war in Donbas. The other choice, fulfilling the Minsk Accords, would undermine Ukraine’s Western integration and potentially destabilize the country internally, possibly even expanding the warfare beyond the Donbas region.

We believe it’s more than 50% likely that, in the next two years, the U.S. will help broker a peace deal in which sanctions against Russia are gradually removed in relation to the Crimean annexation in exchange for a frozen conflict in Donbas and a Ukrainian military strengthened by the West (without NATO membership). This is a realistic scenario for peace in Ukraine.