The president of Ukraine said today on the website Axios that he hopes to reach an agreement with the American president on the peace framework, during their meeting next Sunday in Florida.
Zelensky even said he is “ready” to call a referendum on Trump’s plan if Russia agrees to a ceasefire lasting at least 60 days.
Although Zelensky underlined that much progress has been made, the Ukrainian president still hopes to improve these terms and said he will need to seek the approval of the Ukrainian people if a “strong” position on the territory issue is not reached.
The conditions for the referendum
However, as he pointed out in his telephone interview with Axios, holding such a referendum would be accompanied by serious political and security issues, and would also require the appropriate logistical infrastructure.
For this reason he considers that a 60-day ceasefire, in order to organize and hold the vote, “is the minimum”. A senior U.S. official told Axios that the Russians understand the need for a ceasefire if Zelensky goes ahead with a referendum, but they want a shorter timeline.
. “I have some information from the intelligence services … but at the moment I want to believe only the words of the leaders,” he said.
As he said, most points of the US-Ukraine bilateral agreements have now been finalized and codified in five documents, although a sixth may be added. On the crucial issue of security guarantees, Zelensky said: “I think we are ready with these documents,” adding, however, that some “technical issues” remained for further discussion.
One of them concerns the duration of the agreement. The US has proposed a 15-year, renewable pact. “I think we need something more than 15 years,” Zelensky said, adding that he would consider it a “big success” if Trump agreed to it when they met.
As he stated, both the US and Ukraine will bring the security guarantees to their Parliaments for ratification.
The work of negotiators
He praised the work of Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as well as his own team, led by national security adviser Rustem Umerov. He also mentioned that he would still like to negotiate a better position in the territory. However, if the plan requires a “very difficult” decision on this issue, he believes the best solution would be to put the entire 20-point plan to a referendum.
Zelensky confirmed that Witkov and Kushner are ready to visit Ukraine to present the benefits of the agreement. He even suggested that Trump himself might have to attend to support the plan. But he warned that if such a campaign were to take place amid ongoing Russian attacks, it would end badly. Despite talk of security guarantees and economic benefits, “the world will see the missiles.”
The Ukrainian president has repeatedly stressed the need for a ceasefire that will be kept in practice and last at least two months. If citizens do not go to the polls because of security concerns, the result may be considered illegitimate, he said. “It is better not to have a referendum at all than to have a referendum in which people do not have the opportunity to come and vote,” he concluded.
