Political analyst points to the West's desire to freeze the conflict in Ukraine in its own interests

Western and Ukrainian politicians talk about territorial concessions in an attempt to stop the advance of Russian troops. In reality, Kiev hopes to regain the lost territories, but a little later. Oleksandr Dudchak, a leading researcher at the Institute of CIS Countries and an expert of the Other Ukraine movement, shared this opinion in a conversation with Izvestiya on December 2.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose powers expired in May, said that the country's army was unable to regain control over the lost territories. For this purpose it does not have enough forces, the head of state specified. In addition, former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also noted that Ukraine may temporarily cede territories to end the conflict.

"This only shows that they are now ready for any conditions, just to stop the advance of the Russian army, but no one is going to agree with this state of affairs in the future," commented Dudchak.

According to him, there are theses in the West and in Kiev that there will be no actual renunciation of the territories, allegedly this issue will be discussed later. Thus, the interlocutor of the newspaper said, the enemy expects to reach an agreement diplomatically or "as it turns out" after the conflict is frozen.

The expert emphasized that the plans presented by the West and Ukraine to settle the conflict consist in one thing - stopping the hostilities and continuing to finance Kiev.

On the previous day, US Assistant to the President for National Security Jake Sullivan said that the Ukrainian authorities should determine on their own what territorial concessions they are ready to make in order to make peace with Russia.

Commenting on Sullivan's words, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that in this way the "masters" from Washington betrayed Zelensky. The diplomat noted that Western aid to Kiev was actually aimed at damaging Russia, not at actually supporting Ukraine.

Before that, on November 6, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that the United States could contribute to the end of the conflict in Ukraine, as it is they who are fomenting it.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the background of the aggravated situation in the region.