Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that his delegation’s two-day talks with the US side, led by President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, “were not easy, but they were productive.” TASR informs about it according to the reports of AFP, AP, Reuters and The Guardian.
- The Ukrainian president assesses the negotiations with the American delegation as difficult.
- Zelenskyy proposed the use of frozen Russian assets for defense.
- The negotiations mainly focused on the issues of the borders of the conflict.
“These conversations are never easy. I’ll be honest with you. But they were productive conversations with many details, really many,” Zelenskyy said at the German-Ukrainian Economic Forum in Berlin.
Frozen Russian assets
At the same time, the Ukrainian president called for the use of Russian assets frozen in Europe “for defense against Russian aggression.” “These funds must really and fully serve to defend against Russian aggression. It is fair, it is reasonable and it must be achievable,” he added.
In response to the use of frozen Russian assets, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was a “key issue” that needed to be resolved immediately. “If we fail to do this, the European Union’s ability to act will remain damaged for years, if not longer, and we will show the world that we are unable to stand together and act at a pivotal moment in our history,” he added.
American security guarantees
According to AFP’s anonymous US source, the current version of the peace plan under discussion includes “strong” US security guarantees similar to those in the Washington Treaty of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). “The basis of the agreement is to have very, very strong guarantees similar to Article Five,” the source said, adding that he believes Russia will accept the latest version of the agreement with Ukraine.
The AP agency wrote that, according to its information, Russia has indicated that it is open to the idea of Ukraine joining the European Union (EU) as part of a possible agreement. In addition, the parties have reportedly already “resolved 90 percent of the issues.” The source of the Reuters agency, in turn, states that although the negotiations were “very positive”, at the end of the day it is an agreement on the delimitation of borders.
Negotiation progress
Shortly after the end of Monday’s second round of negotiations between the Ukrainian and American delegations in Berlin, Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov wrote on the X social network that “the negotiations were constructive and productive and real progress was made.” “We hope to reach an agreement by the end of the day that will bring us closer to peace. There is a lot of noise and anonymous speculation in the media right now. Please do not get carried away by rumors and provocations. The American team led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner is working extremely constructively to help Ukraine find a way to a lasting peace agreement,” Umerov wrote.
Both teams discussed ending the war in Ukraine already on Sunday. After this meeting with the Ukrainian delegation, Witkoff declared that “great progress” had been made.
Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he is ready to give up his bid for Ukraine to join NATO if the US and other Western partners provide security guarantees to Kiev comparable to those for Alliance members. The President emphasized that any security guarantees must be legally binding and supported by the US Congress. However, Ukraine continues to reject American pressure to cede its territories to Russia.
