A US document on security guarantees for Ukraine is completely ready and Kiev is awaiting the time and place for its signature, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, indicating that weekend talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi have progressed.
“For us, security guarantees are, first of all, US security guarantees. The document is 100% ready, and we are waiting for our partners to confirm the date and place where we will sign it,” Zelenskiy said at a press conference during a visit to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
“The document will then be sent for ratification to the US Congress and the Ukrainian Parliament,” he said.
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On Friday and Saturday, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators held their first trilateral meeting, including American mediators in Abu Dhabi, to discuss Washington’s framework for ending the nearly four-year war, but there was no agreement.
However, Moscow and Kiev have said they are open to further dialogue and that more discussions are expected next Sunday in Abu Dhabi, a US official told reporters shortly after the weekend talks.
“(In Abu Dhabi) the (US) 20-point plan and problematic issues are being discussed. There were many problematic issues, but now there are fewer,” Zelenskiy said.
He said Moscow wants to do everything possible for Ukraine to abandon the eastern regions that Moscow has failed to capture since the full-scale invasion that triggered the war. But Kiev, according to him, has not departed from its position that Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be maintained.
“These are two fundamentally different positions — Ukraine’s and Russia’s. The Americans are trying to reach a compromise,” Zelenskiy said, adding that all sides must be prepared to reach an agreement, including the Americans.
