Recent attempts to obtain a ceasefire in Ukraine have all resulted in failures. According to Dominique Arel, holder of the Ukrainian Chair of Studies at the University of Ottawa, the United States could even consider retiring completely from its role as mediator, as Donald Trump had already heard.
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“The trend seems to indicate that the United States will announce its full withdrawal from the conflict,” said Arel during an interview on LCN waves on Sunday.
Despite this dark context, a glimmer of optimism briefly emerged when Vladimir Putin announced a 30-hour ceasefire for Easter.
However, this hope quickly died: the fighting resumed on the Ukrainian front almost immediately. The two camps have also accused themselves of having been behind this resumption of hostilities.
For Dominique Arel, this turn of events is not surprising.
-“You know, the war on a large scale is three years and a few months since February 2022, but the war in the East, it was since 2014. And there had been about thirty ceasefies that were all raped,” recalled the specialist.
According to him, Russia seeks to project a desire for peace, while pursuing contrary objectives.
“Reality, if we look at factually, for almost six weeks, there had been this meeting between negotiations in Saudi Arabia, between the Ukrainians and the Trump administration. And what had been announced at the time was that Ukraine accepted the American proposal for a ceasefire, not 30 hours, but of 30 unconditional days, underlined Mr. Arel. And Russia then replied: “Yes, but no”. That is to say “yes” by putting conditions which were completely unacceptable, which means that the ceasefire, which should have taken place for more than a month, 30 days still does not take place. “
Among the Russian requirements, there was in particular that of suspending any military aid intended for Ukraine.
“Russia makes exactly the same requests it made at the very beginning of the war, that is to say that Ukraine must demilitarize,” said the guest in an interview. So you imagine, it goes completely in the opposite direction to the not only Ukrainian, but also European and Canadian position, that if you come to a ceasefire, to lasting peace, you have to make sure that Ukrainians can defend this peace. “
See Dominique Arel’s full interview in the video above.
