- Category
- World
Russia’s Claimed “Anchorage Compromise” on Ukraine and NATO Is “Firmly Dead,” UK Says
Prefer U24 Media on Google
- Authors
![Photo of Roman Kohanets]( "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
-111f0e5095e02c02446ffed57bfb0ab1.jpeg "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
The "Anchorage compromise," under which Russia had claimed the US agreed that Ukraine should surrender territory and its NATO aspirations, is "firmly dead," UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell declared in Kyiv on September 13 and was cited by the BBC on the same day.
We bring you stories from the ground. Your support keeps our team in the field.
Powell, the British prime minister's most senior security adviser, delivered the remarks at the Yalta European Strategy forum before an audience of Ukraine's leadership and foreign supporters, according to the BBC. He framed the shift as his own reading of Moscow's position rather than any confirmed understanding between Washington and the Kremlin.
"The so-called Anchorage compromise is firmly dead," Powell stated. "We can stop worrying about it. It's finished." He indicated that Russia was no longer claiming the US had agreed to Ukraine giving up territory and hopes of NATO membership.
That purported understanding, he noted, had supposedly emerged from last year's summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
The change, in Powell's assessment, cleared the way for genuine diplomacy rather than waiting for Ukrainians to cede land Russia had failed to conquer. "The strategy is to apply enough pressure to make [Putin] want to get into negotiation," he explained. Talk of Russian escalation, Powell added, was "not a problem" but "a sign of success" that the pressure was paying off.
Sustaining that pressure would demand sacrifice from Europe, he warned, with the continent braced for a difficult winter. "It will require some real hardship and difficulties on our parts," Powell acknowledged, adding that allies must keep economic, military, political, and diplomatic support flowing to Ukraine.
The EU still receives 12% of its gas imports from Russia and aims to complete the phase-out by January. The European Court of Auditors recently described the plan as "faltering" amid shortages linked to the war in Iran.
Ukraine's economy, meanwhile, is absorbing heavy damage from sustained Russian strikes. Oleksandr Kravchenko, Ukraine's economy minister, told the conference that this year's attacks would cost $10 million in destroyed infrastructure and assets. He indicated GDP would contract by 1.5% as a blockade of the country's sea ports curbed grain exports.
Powell described Trump as being "in a very different place," no longer leaning toward Putin as he had before. Russia had reached 1.5 million casualties while Ukrainian forces held the front line and struck deeper inside Russian territory, he noted.
Putin has shown little sign of strain, telling journalists this month, "I have no doubt that the enemy will crumble." Even so, Powell urged continued contact with the Kremlin despite branding Putin a "terrorist," noting that the CIA had traveled to Moscow to guard against dangerous miscalculation.
Ukrainian authorities have begun evacuating residents from Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, the largest cities still fully under Kyiv's control in the eastern Donbas region.
Powell's remarks followed weeks of quickening diplomatic contact around a possible settlement. On September 6, Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held more than three hours of talks with Putin in Moscow before continuing on to Kyiv.
Two days later, US envoys discussed a limited winter ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, including a mutual pause on strikes against energy infrastructure.
On September 12, Zelenskyy stated he was ready to meet Putin at the December G20 summit in Miami, provided the Russian leader also attended.
Discuss this article:
-4a56a6b482ec132402c16ef6fcabf9a2.png)
-cf609fe649f399c4b4980b3b0f6ad5fa.png "Russia Sent Latin American Recruits to War. They Shot Their Way Out and Surrendered to Ukraine")
-21f402f6f32da8b0165ae48804a71feb.jpeg "Photo of Gonzalo Leon Bustos")
-4ce8d9b2f6558786ce494a0eeff2f973.webp "Oemis Romagoza Durruthy. (Source: Deutsche Welle)")
