Officials in Washington have warned that “Ukraine fatigue” among the allies could worsen if Kyiv remains closed to negotiations, the Washington Post reported. U.S. officials told the paper that Ukraine’s position in negotiations with Russia is weak among allies worried about the economic impact of a protracted war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine is ready to start negotiations with Russia only if its troops leave all parts of Ukraine, including Crimea and the eastern Donbas regions, which are de facto controlled by Russia from in 2014, and whether the Russians have committed crimes in Ukraine before a court. Zelensky also made it clear that he would not negotiate with the current Russian leadership. Last month, he signed a decree clarifying that Ukraine would only negotiate with a Russian president who has succeeded Vladimir Putin. Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits the city of Izium, which was recently liberated during a counter-offensive. Photo: Presidential Press Service of Ukraine/Reuters The US has so far given Ukraine $18.9bn (£16.6bn) in aid and is ready to give more, saying it will support Ukraine as long as it needs. But allies in parts of Europe, Africa and Latin America, U.S. officials told the Post, are concerned about the pressure the war is putting on energy and food prices, as well as supply chains. “Ukraine fatigue is a real thing for some of our partners,” one US official said. US officials have asked Kyiv to show it is open to negotiating not to push Ukraine to the negotiating table immediately, but to retain the support of concerned allies, according to the Post. For Ukrainian officials, the U.S. request would mean abandoning months of rhetoric about the need for a decisive military defeat against Russia to ensure Ukraine’s long-term security — a message that resonates strongly with a Ukrainian population that fears Russia will try again to conquer the country in the future. The atrocities, deaths and destruction caused by the Russian invasion have made the negotiations unpalatable for many Ukrainians, particularly as the mood in Ukraine is high after a series of battlefield successes in the northeastern regions of Kharkiv and southern Kherson. Despite the strong rhetoric, the loss of allied support could have ramifications for Ukraine, particularly in terms of sanctions. Veteran diplomat Alexander Vershbow told the Post that “if conditions become more favorable for negotiations, I don’t think [US] the administration will be passive.” Russian officials said Kyiv was preparing to launch a second offensive to retake more of the occupied Kherson region. Recapturing it would have enormous symbolic and logistical value for Ukraine, as Russia wants the region to secure a water supply to Crimea as well as a land bridge to Russia. In a statement on Telegram, the Russian-controlled administration of Kherson said electricity and water supplies were cut off after a “terrorist attack” knocked out three power lines in the occupied part of the region. A Ukrainian border guard with an Anglo-Swedish anti-tank missile launcher at a fortified position near Ukraine’s border with Russia. Photo: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images Kherson official Kirill Stemousov said Thursday that Russian forces would likely withdraw to the city’s east bank after occupation authorities took down the Russian flag from the regional administration building and moved it to an office on the east bank. The events, which followed the mass evacuation of the occupied Kherson, gave rise to rumors that the Russians might withdraw. However, Russian forces are strengthening their positions, and a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern command, Natalia Humeniuk, described it as a ploy to drag Ukraine into the battle. Recent BBC reports on the battlefield from the Ukrainian side on the Kherson front indicate that Kiev’s forces may still lack the necessary equipment. In the first month of the war, Ukraine and Russia held talks in which Ukraine promised to remain neutral in exchange for the return of its territories. But Russia has demanded that Ukraine recognize its annexed territories and Ukraine’s “demilitarization” and “de-Zionization” — terms that Ukraine and its Western allies have not taken seriously. Reiterating his position on Friday, Zelensky described Russia’s willingness to let so many Russians die in war as “crazy stubbornness”, which he said suggested their supposed readiness to negotiate was “false”. “When someone thinks about negotiations, he doesn’t look for ways to deceive everyone around him to send tens or hundreds of thousands more people to the meat grinder – mobilized or in the form of some mercenaries,” Zelensky said. Start your day with the top stories from the US, plus the day’s must-reads from across the Guardian Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The US has said that for now it agrees with Ukraine’s position. A US official speaking to Reuters about the report said: “The Kremlin continues to escalate this war. The Kremlin has demonstrated its unwillingness to seriously engage in negotiations before even launching its invasion of Ukraine.” Putin has taken steps to turn around the Russian economy for the Ukraine war effort, in another sign, aside from the mobilization, that Russia is preparing for the long haul. In October, Putin created an influential government body, the coordination council, to coordinate supplies to the military. He has been tasked with transforming Russia’s regional economies so they can cope with the needs of the Russian military in Ukraine. Russia’s new drive to arm and replenish its military is part of a two-pronged strategy designed to regain the battlefield advantage and declare a long-awaited victory over Kiev. The second part of the strategy involves disabling Ukraine in the rear. Over the past month, Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure. Dozens of power plants, substations and other parts of Ukraine’s energy system have been severely damaged by repeated Russian attacks. Ukrainian authorities have issued planned blackouts across the country as a result in order to stabilize the network. Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, head of Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrenergo, told the Guardian that Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine’s energy sector. He said the situation was critical because it was not possible to repair the network as quickly as it was being destroyed. If the Russian attacks continued, the blackouts would become “longer and longer,” he said. The head of the Kiev region, Oleksiy Kuleba, said on Tuesday that it was once again an outpost in Russia’s attempt to target the capital. Kuleba said power plants on the outskirts of the capital have been repeatedly targeted to cut off power to the capital. Kyiv mayor and former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko said he did not rule out a scenario in which the capital would face a complete blackout. Speaking to Ukraine’s United News, a central news program broadcast on all channels, Klitschko told people to prepare by buying power banks and warm clothes. In the event of a total blackout, he said Kyiv residents should try to stay with relatives outside the capital. However, Klitschko urged people in Kyiv not to be “pessimistic”, saying he was simply advising people to prepare for different scenarios. “We will do everything in our power to prevent such a scenario from happening.” A complete blackout would mean no sewage, so authorities would be forced to ask the city’s 3 million residents to leave, Roman Tkachuk, security director of Kyiv’s municipal government, told The New York Times. The newspaper said officials in the capital had been told they would likely have at least 12 hours’ notice if the network was on the verge of failure. If that happens, Tkachuk said, they would “start notifying people and asking them to leave,” adding that the situation is under control for now. In a series of sackings of Russian military commanders since the start of the war, General Alexander Linkov reportedly replaced Colonel Alexander Lapin on Thursday, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defense. Lapin was criticized for poor performance on the battlefield in Ukraine by both Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and the head of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin, the ministry said. Britain said the sackings of Russia’s top men were a way to insulate Russia’s leadership from any responsibility for the war’s failures.
