Russia, like cream, referendum in Donbass
When the speed war failed, an attempt was made to divide
Ukraine says fake referendum doesn’t work
The 5th Armistice Negotiation in Turkey on the 28th and 30th
The exchange of prisoners of war between the two countries is excluded from the subject of negotiations.
Humanitarian pathway ‘blocked’ with signs of provocation
▲ Residents receive relief food distributed by invading forces in the recently occupied town of Trohizvenka with the support of Russian troops by the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), a pro-Russian separatist rebel government in Donbas, Ukraine, on the 27th (local time).
Trohisvenka Tas Yonhap News
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters the fifth week, both sides are looking for an exit strategy in the face of huge human and material losses. Ukraine has expressed its intention to compromise with regard to the disposal of the eastern Donbas region and its neutralization, while Russia is pursuing a ‘Korean Peninsula model’ that divides Ukraine’s territory based on the eastern and southern regions it has occupied.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held an interview with Russian independence media for the first time since the war on the 27th (local time) and said, “I am prepared to accept the neutralization of the country. ” he said.
He added the proviso that “Ukraine neutralization should be guaranteed by a third party and decided by a referendum,” but territorial issues such as the Crimean Peninsula annexed in 2014 and the Donbas region occupied by Russia this time “cannot yield even an inch.” It is a big step back from the existing position of “no.” However, he said, “If we persist, we will not negotiate” about the demilitarization of Ukraine that Russia is insisting on.
This interview was conducted ahead of the 5th peace negotiations to be held in Turkey. Ukrainian negotiating team David Harahamiya, head of the ruling party, announced that the meeting would be held on the 28th-30th, while Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, an adviser to the President’s Office and the Turkish President’s Office, announced the date of the meeting on the 29th-30th. Regarding the topic of negotiations, Kremlin spokeswoman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment at a briefing on the 28th, saying that “it could harm the negotiation process.” However, it was made clear that the exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine was not a subject of negotiations.
While President Zelensky emphasized the need for summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin “to reach a mutual agreement,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called it “unproductive at the moment”.
Russia, which has failed in the initial speed war of the invasion and is being repelled in Kiiu, the capital of Ukraine, is turning from a ‘occupation strategy’ to a ‘division strategy’. Leonid Pasechnik, head of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), founded by pro-Russian separatist rebels in the Donbas region, announced on the same day that “a referendum will be held soon to join the Russian Federation.” Analysis follows that Russia is in the process of removing the LPR from Ukraine, which has invaded neighboring Ukraine’s territory with the support of the Russian military, just like in Crimea in the past.
“[Russia’s new strategy]is to divide Ukraine like the Korean Peninsula,” said Kirillo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Agency. “Fake referendums are invalid. “Ukrainians will engage in guerrilla warfare in Russian-occupied territory,” he warned.
A Ukrainian government official said, “Russia will withdraw its troops from Kiiu and Kharkiv within a week or two and send them to Donbas,” the English Daily Guardian reported. This means that the ‘special military operation’ declared by President Putin at the start of the war will end and the second stage ‘operation to liberate Donbass’ will begin.
Accordingly, the fighting in the southern port city of Mariupol, the biggest battleground of this war, is expected to intensify. Russia must take control of this area so that it can divide the southeastern part of Ukraine by linking Crimea with Donbas.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Bereshuk has decided to suspend the operation of the ‘Humanitarian Channel’ for one day on the 28th. It is explained that this is according to intelligence that the Russian military may provocation along the civilian evacuation route. According to the agreement between the two sides, humanitarian routes were actually operated in the outskirts of Kiiu and in Sumi and Kharkiv.
Correspondent Lee Gyeong-ju, Washington
Reporter Lee Jung-soo, Seoul
