00:00Apparently, no major breakthroughs were actually achieved.
00:03So what are the major sticking points?
00:05As we know, and you mentioned, there's those points concerning territorial issues like the Donbass.
00:11Is there anything else we're missing here?
00:15Yeah, well, there are two big one issues and then some related smaller issues.
00:22Number one is the land issue.
00:24Will Ukraine give up land to the Russians to get a peace deal?
00:28So far, the answer is no.
00:31There are some conditions they might agree to, such as temporary demilitarization or something like that.
00:38That's the major issue.
00:39The second one is the issue of what will a security assurance or guarantee look like in practice?
00:48You know, I have done this myself in my diplomatic work, and it's one thing to talk about a guarantee.
00:53It's another thing to have somebody, meaning European troops no doubtedly, with boots on the ground, very vulnerable to Russian pressure and attack.
01:03We don't know anything about this, and these are not 10% of the agenda left.
01:09These are, frankly, more than 50% of the agenda left if we rank by importance.
01:14There are other issues as well.
01:16For example, who controls the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which is one of the largest or the largest in Europe?
01:23There are issues like that.
01:24And then the big question, of course, is who rebuilds Ukraine?
01:28And Putin has been playing some diplomatic games in the past few days, talking about frozen Russian assets and all that kind of thing.
01:36But we go back again to the framework of a deal, which must include a settlement on the land differences and a security force somehow to ensure a ceasefire.
01:47Because the Ukrainians know, as do most of us, certainly in Europe, that the Russians are likely to break a ceasefire if there's not a deterrent force right outside their troops.
01:57And that's really the central problem right now.
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