U.S. government seeking deeper involvement in Donbas, Volker says

The U.S. government is seeking deeper involvement in resolving
the war in Donbas, Kurt Volker, the U.S. special representative to Ukraine,
told a July 23 press conference in Kramatorsk, a city in the Donetsk region
that was freed in 2014 from Russian-backed forces. “We want to develop a
strategic understanding of this conflict in order to have the ability to move
forward and renew the territory,” he said, adding, “This is not a conflict,
it’s a war. This is a crisis that needs to be resolved as soon as possible.” He
stressed that the U.S. government understands that the conflict is Russian
military aggression against Ukraine, not a civil war.

Zenon Zawada: If Volker
is to have a lasting impact on the peace talks instead of vanishing into
history, he needs to propose a new framework to replace the Minsk Accords. The
Putin administration views the territory of Ukraine as necessary to control and
has made it a key foreign policy priority to prevent Western structures from
controlling activity on this territory.

At the same time, it’s a relief to hear an influential
Westerner recognize that the conflict is a war and needs to be concluded as
soon as possible, not only for the sake of Ukraine’s future but for global
stability. But ultimately, the deeper U.S. involvement called for by Volker
will be meaningless if it doesn’t involve a new approach. The current scenario
between the West and the U.S. will only lead to further global destabilization.