Biden offers Russia 20% of Ukraine, WH says report 'not accurate'
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The report says the Biden administration officials are divided on how to handle the war in Ukraine.
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US President Joe Biden welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House in Washington, D.C., on December 21, 2022. (AFP)
The head of the US spy agency, William Burns, traveled to Moscow earlier this month to offer a peace proposal that includes Ukraine officially giving up "around 20 percent" to Russia, Swiss-German newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) reported on Thursday citing high ranking German bipartisan officials.
Burns submitted the peace offering on behalf of the President of the United States Joe Biden, the report noted.
The Washington Post reported earlier that the head of the CIA Burns made a secret visit to Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and officials from local intelligence organizations.
CNN's Natasha Bertrand said earlier this month, citing a US official, that talks included measures to de-escalate tensions with Russia.
According to NZZ, citing senior German foreign affairs politician, Burns submitted the proposal plan in mid-January, adding that both Moscow and Kiev rejected it.
The newspaper reported that the US proposal offered "around 20 percent of Ukraine's territory" to Russia, almost the size of the Donbass region.
Ukraine refused the plan "because they are not willing to have their territory divided," while Moscow said it will "will win the war in the long run anyway," the report continued.
American news outlet Newsweek cited Sean Davett, the deputy spokesperson at the White House National Security Council, as calling the report "not accurate".
Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy told Newsweek that the NZZ report was "interesting," but that he couldn't "comment [on] speculation."
The news site, citing the German officials, added that Biden wanted to avoid a lengthy war, so he offered to drop the large territory to Russia.
According to the Swiss-German newspaper, Biden announced sending the M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine following the rejection of both Kiev and Moscow of the proposal.
On January 25, Biden announced that the US would send 31 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine. However, US officials stated that it will take a few months to finalize the training and delivery process before they can be mobilized on the battlefields in Ukraine.
Earlier in December, PBS cited Burns in December as saying that “most conflicts end in negotiations, but that requires a seriousness on the part of the Russians in this instance that I don’t think we see," adding that “at least, it’s not our assessment that the Russians are serious at this point about a real negotiation.”
The NZZ report added that US officials were divided on how to approach the war in Ukraine.
Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Burns "wanted to end the war quickly so they could focus on China," while the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin "didn't want to let Russia get away with destroying the rule-based peace order and called for massive military support for Ukraine."
According to the news site, one of Berlin's senior politicians said it is becoming clear that Washington is for a prolonged war of attrition while warning that such a war would inflict great suffering on Germany financially, economically, and militarily.
Read more: Poll shows half of Germans against sending tanks to Ukraine
Berlin, who said earlier that it will not approve sending its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine unless Washington approves sending its Abrams main battle tanks, announced on January 25 that it will provide Kiev with 14 Leopard 2A6 tanks and allow third countries to export them to Ukraine.
The expected delivery of the Leopards is by the end of March or early April, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the day following the announcment.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on January 11 that talks between Moscow and Kiev "are now impossible since there are no conditions for them either de facto or de jure."
Polyanskiy told Newsweek that peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow "will happen inevitably. But it's rather between Russia and the West, Ukraine has shown full lack of sovereignty. The more the West waits, the worse the outcome will be for Kyiv."
Commenting on the NZZ report, the White House denied that Burns, on behalf of Biden, offered Russia to take one-fifth of Ukraine's as means of ending the war.
A CIA official told Newsweek that the report was "completely false".
