© EPA/MARTIAL TREZZINI Americans were outraged by the leak.
The Geneva discussions, which led to a reevaluation of the US strategy to conclude the conflict, nearly failed right from the start. On Sunday morning, the conversation was “very strained”, noted Serhiy Kyslytsia, Ukraine’s first deputy minister of foreign affairs, in an opinion piece for the Financial Times.
According to him, the US representatives were angered by the disclosure of the proposition to the press a number of days prior to the assembly and the open discussion regarding the source of the primary version of the document. In Ukraine, the 28-point truce design was publicized by the People’s Deputy from Eurosolidarity, Oleksiy Honcharenko.
According to Kyslytsia, it took nearly two hours of discussions involving Andriy Yermak and Mark Rubio to alleviate the level of stress and return to standard conversation. The discussions came to a favorable conclusion. Kyslytsia added that the US representatives paid attention to the worries and requests of the Ukrainians.
“They concurred that the extent of the Ukrainian armed forces in the merged iteration [of the draft peace plan] — regardless of who created it — is no longer subject to deliberation. The military forces will continue to discuss these arrangements,” he stated.
Additionally, according to him, the suggestion for a complete pardon for possible war crimes in the original draft was altered in a manner that considers “the grievances of those who experienced suffering in the war.” As FT journalists point out, the delegations consented to “remove from consideration” the most contentious aspects: territories and matters concerning relations with NATO. These will be debated by the leaders of Ukraine and the United States.
Previously, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful expressed that he regarded the dialogues in Geneva as “a great success” for Europe. On Deutschlandfunk, he highlighted that the United States had heard the anxieties of the European Union and Ukraine, and would involve Europe in achieving a peaceful resolution.
