U.S. negotiators reportedly proposed changing the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which would allow Moscow to declare full control over Donbas without being handed Ukrainian cities controlled by Kyiv, The Economist reported.

According to the British weekly, the proposal would involve changing the administrative borders of the two regions in eastern Ukraine. That would allow Russia to claim it controls the entire territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, to which it lays claim, without requiring Ukraine to withdraw from the cities it currently controls.

The Economist reported that both Ukraine and its European allies oppose the proposal.

“Under no circumstances will we agree to this while the war is going on,” a Ukrainian official quoted in the article said.

U.S. negotiators believe that Vladimir Putin could accept American security guarantees for Ukraine modeled on the mechanisms provided for in Article 4 or 5 of the NATO treaty, The Economist wrote.

In Kyiv, however, there are doubts about whether U.S. President Donald Trump would be willing to honor such guarantees.

Moscow, meanwhile, shows no signs of being ready to accept the deployment of a multinational security force in Ukraine. It also has not dropped its demands that Ukraine declare neutrality and limit the size of its armed forces.

According to The Economist, Ukrainian and European officials fear that Washington’s proposal to bring European security issues into the peace negotiations could give Russia additional opportunities to drag out talks on a ceasefire agreement. (PAP)