The situation on the battlefield weighs on the search for peace negotiations. The Russian advance into the Donbass significantly expands the territory that could be ceded by Ukraine in still hypothetical negotiations. Ambassador Ferdinando Nelli Feroci, former EU Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, explains in Wednesday 1 June’s episode of Atlantis why diplomacy and military operations cannot be considered separately at this turning point in the conflict.
“I am very cautious about the possibility of starting a serious conversation and not a farce, as we saw in the first days of the conflict and then at the meeting in Istanbul – he explains Andrea Purgatori – However, there are some developments on site that are worth mentioning. It is clear that Vladimir Putin “changed the strategy on the ground”, after the attacks on Kyiv, focused on the south, “and we have been witnessing the Mariupol tragedy for many weeks”, while today “the Russian strategy is changing with greater effectiveness, for the occupation of the entire Donbass, “explains the ambassador. Severodonetsk is about to fall, then the Russians will continue the offensive on the rest of the Donbass, predicts Nelli Feroci.
“This poses a huge problem” for Ukraine, “which can maintain a line of resistance to the bitter end east of the Dnipro River, with the risk that once the Russians break through, they will have no resistance to the rest – explains Nelli Feroci – or retreat a little to the west and try to organize a resistance against the rest of the country by abandoning the Donbass “. A problem for the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, because at a possible negotiating table it would no longer just be about the pro-Russian republics, but about a much larger territory in Russian hands.
The ambassador remains cautious about the assumption that Putin ended military operations by taking Donbass and is ready to sit down at the table. Then there remains the unknown Zelensky, who may not consider Russian conditions acceptable. “All of this then leaves the other big question, still open”, namely “the fate of this territorial corridor, which is now essentially occupied by Russian troops and connects the Donbass with Crimea up to Kherson – summarizes the ambassador – I know don’t know if, how and to what extent Putin was ready to give up this territory”.
