A closed session of the National Security and Defense Council was convened in Kiev, convened by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on the eve of the summit of the leaders of the Norman Four. Following the meeting, the agenda discussed at the meeting became known.

According to the NSDC secretary Aleksey Danilov, three key issues were considered - the Donbass reintegration scenario, territorial defense and cybersecurity. He emphasized that decisions on all points were adopted unanimously.

“Today at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council we adopted one of the scenarios (the reintegration of Donbass. - RT ), which will be implemented as the main one at the moment,” Danilova quotes the Ukrainian online publication Gazeta.ua.

He added that the strategy of territorial defense should be adopted before March 31, 2020, and speaking about cybersecurity, Danilov noted that Ukraine is daily faced with attacks “from certain territories”.

According to him, Vladimir Zelensky at the upcoming December 9 meeting in Paris with the leaders of Germany, France and Russia plans to discuss four issues: the return of all detainees, a ceasefire, the restoration of Ukrainian security forces over the border with the Russian Federation in Donbass, and elections in territories not controlled by Kiev.

“There will be nothing new in the script”

According to the professor of the Department of Comparative Political Science of the RUDN University, Yuri Pochta, Kiev is unlikely to go to the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

“The meeting in the Norman format is Zelensky’s attempt to prove himself an international leader, he knows that its Western participants will support him. In this sense, he has the rear, since he needs to somehow refuse the Minsk agreements - some new requirements will be presented, which will actually become an ultimatum, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

Obviously, the negotiations in Paris will be difficult for Vladimir Zelensky, political analyst Alexander Asafov told RT. In this regard, according to him, the Ukrainian leader is doing a kind of “homework” - preparation for building his own position.

“The situation is unpredictable now, there is a certain insider from Zelensky’s entourage that they want to negotiate as harshly as possible in order to provoke Russia in the person of Vladimir Putin to some harsh statements, designations of extreme options,” he said.

According to political analyst Yuri Svetov, the absence of any details on the scenarios of the reintegration of the Donbass may be due to the fact that the current Ukrainian government is afraid of attacks from opposition and radical forces inside Ukraine.

“This appeal of Poroshenko, Vakarchuk and Tymoshenko to go to the new“ Maidan ”speaks of a desire to put pressure on Zelensky, urging him not to yield and not to back down. As for the plans for the reintegration of the Donbass - I think that there will be nothing new there. As Putin has repeatedly noted, talking about the fate of these territories, one must speak with the people who live there. But while the Ukrainian authorities can’t do it, ”RT said.

Five scenarios

At the end of November, the NSDC secretary said that the agency was considering five scenarios for the reintegration of the Donbass, assuring that “Kiev would return the borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and certainly Crimea,” but did not provide details. On December 3, Vladimir Zelensky approved these scenarios at a meeting in preparation for the summit in the Norman format. According to him, the settlement of the situation in the south-east of Ukraine must be achieved exclusively by "political and diplomatic methods."

At the same time, the president of Ukraine in an interview with the German Spiegel said that he would fight for the “lost residents of Donbass,” and “those who are for Russia” could leave the region. At the same time, on the air of the program “Freedom of Speech of Savik Shuster,” Vladimir Zelensky indicated that Kiev was not going to conduct a direct dialogue with representatives of the DPR and LPR, and called for the inclusion of representatives of migrants who left Donbass after 2014 in the tripartite contact group.

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The Ukrainian leader also spoke about plans to hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Norman Four summit in Paris. According to him, he expects to watch his colleague "face to face."

“I want to see a man and bring from the meeting in the Norman format the understanding and feeling that indeed everyone wants to gradually end this tragic war. I can precisely understand this at the negotiating table, ”Zelensky added.

Earlier, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin is serious about the upcoming meeting in the French capital.

“The only expectation is to contribute to the settlement of the intra-Ukrainian conflict in the south-east of this country, to provide once again a common understanding of the lack of alternative implementation of the Minsk agreements, to prevent any attempt to erode these agreements,” he said.