Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday voiced readiness to drop his nation’s bid to affix NATO in trade for Western safety ensures, however rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia as he held talks with U.S. envoys on ending the battle.
Zelenskyy sat down with U.S. President Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Ukrainian chief posted photos of the negotiating desk with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sitting subsequent to him, going through the U.S. delegation.
Responding to journalists’ questions in audio clips on a WhatsApp group chat, Zelenskyy emphasised the necessity for Ukraine to obtain agency ensures from america and European allies that will be much like these supplied to NATO members, after the U.S. and a few European nations stonewalled Ukraine’s bid to affix the navy alliance.
“These safety ensures are a possibility to forestall one other wave of Russian aggression,” he mentioned. “And that is already a compromise on our half.”
Axel Schmidt / REUTERS
Putin needs Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the a part of the Donetsk area nonetheless below its management among the many key circumstances for peace, a requirement rejected by Kyiv.
Zelenskyy mentioned that the U.S. had floated an thought for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donetsk and create a demilitarized free financial zone there, a proposal he rejected as unworkable.
“I don’t contemplate this truthful, as a result of who will handle this financial zone?” he mentioned. “If we’re speaking about some buffer zone alongside the road of contact, if we’re speaking about some financial zone and we consider that solely a police mission ought to be there and troops ought to withdraw, then the query may be very easy. If Ukrainian troops withdraw 5–10 kilometers, for instance, then why do Russian troops not withdraw deeper into the occupied territories by the identical distance?”
Zelenskyy described the difficulty as “very delicate” and insisted on a freeze alongside the road of contact, saying that “at present a good doable choice is we stand the place we stand.”
Putin’s international affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, advised the enterprise each day Kommersant that Russian police and nationwide guard would keep in elements of the Donetsk area even when they change into a demilitarized zone below a potential peace plan.
Ushakov warned {that a} seek for compromise may take a very long time, noting that the U.S. proposals that took under consideration Russian calls for had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
Chatting with Russian state TV in remarks broadcast Sunday, Ushakov mentioned that “the contribution of Ukrainians and Europeans to those paperwork is unlikely to be constructive,” warning that Moscow will “have very robust objections.”
Ushakov added that the territorial situation was actively mentioned in Moscow when Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin earlier this month. “The Individuals know and perceive our place,” he mentioned.
Zelenskyy mentioned he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday simply earlier than the talks with Mr. Trump’s envoys, thanking him on X for his assist and including that “we’re coordinating intently and dealing collectively for the sake of our shared safety.”
Macron vowed on X that “France is, and can stay, at Ukraine’s facet to construct a sturdy and lasting peace — one that may assure Ukraine’s safety and sovereignty, and that of Europe, over the long run.”
Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to assist Ukraine alongside Macron and U.Okay. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, mentioned Saturday that “the a long time of the ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as effectively.”
He warned that Putin’s purpose is “a basic change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the previous Soviet Union inside its borders.”
“If Ukraine falls, he will not cease,” Merz warned on Saturday throughout a celebration convention in Munich.
Putin has denied plans to revive the Soviet Union or assault any European allies.
