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Ukraine President Likely to Face Tough Challenge Selling Peace Deal

Jamie Dettmer

   MOSCOW - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will face an uphill
   battle selling a peace deal he approved midweek with Russia and
   pro-Moscow separatists in Donbas, which would see two breakaway
   republics become self-governing, although still part of Ukraine, say
   analysts.

   The landmark deal aimed at ending a five-year conflict that has left
   more than 13,000 people dead has been welcomed by the Kremlin. Russian
   President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov says he now expects
   a date to be set for four-way peace talks among France, Germany,
   Ukraine and Russia. He described the agreement as a "positive and
   without doubt, important step."

   But there's rising skepticism in Ukraine about the deal known as the
   Steinmeier Formula, especially with its provision to grant special
   autonomous status for the Donbas region following elections. Under the
   agreement, the elections must be free of Kremlin influence.

   Critics of the plan say Zelenskiy has given too much ground to Moscow.

   Author and Oxford academic Timothy Garton Ash, noted authority on
   central Europe, says the deal amounts to a "major concession from Kyiv
   to Moscow, as it largely gives Moscow what it wants, which is autonomy
   for the Kremlin's so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk
   People's Republic -- the Russian-controlled areas of eastern Donbas in
   Ukraine -- and a veto in effect on Ukraine's geopolitical orientation."

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