What Kyiv's stance on Mariupol and NATO signalled on 22 March 2022
A look back at the diplomatic positions Ukraine had set out by 22 March 2022, as ultimatums, ceasefire talk and reports of a possible leaders' meeting overlapped.
What was Ukraine prepared to give up, and what would it refuse, as of 22 March 2022? The reports from the preceding days point to a government that held firm on territory while showing flexibility on the question of NATO membership.
A refusal on Mariupol
On 21 March 2022, Ukraine rejected a Russian ultimatum to surrender control of Mariupol. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the Russian side had already been informed of the refusal. The answer was categorical: no negotiated handover of the city was on offer, even as the siege of Mariupol continued.
A possible concession on NATO
On the same day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would consider dropping Ukraine's request to join NATO in exchange for a ceasefire. The statement was conditional, and it set out a trade: a long-standing aspiration weighed against an end to fighting. It showed that Kyiv's red lines were drawn around the control of its cities rather than around the alliance question.
Signals of movement in the talks
Other reports from 20 March 2022 suggested diplomacy was moving. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Russia and Ukraine were nearing agreement on certain peace issues. The Daily Express reported that a BBC correspondent had said Russian President Vladimir Putin had finally agreed to meet Zelenskyy. These were reports and assessments rather than confirmed arrangements, and they sat alongside the public refusal over Mariupol.
The wider backdrop
International alignments were also shifting. Bulgaria said on 20 March 2022 that it would end gas imports from Russia's Gazprom when its 10-year contract expired at the end of 2022, and that it would seek more gas from Azerbaijan. Bulgarian Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov made the announcement. The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, had said that US President Joe Biden would travel to Warsaw on 25 March, after meetings in Brussels with NATO allies, G7 leaders and European Union leaders.
What the picture showed
Taken together, the reports from 20 and 21 March 2022 describe a negotiating position with two parts. On the battlefield and in the besieged city, Ukraine refused to yield. On strategic orientation, its president indicated a willingness to discuss neutrality in return for a ceasefire. Third parties, from Ankara to Sofia and Washington, were meanwhile making their own moves, whether mediating, reducing energy dependence or preparing high-level meetings with allies.
