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Volodymyr Zelensky says the US is urging Ukraine and Russia to end their war before the start of the summer, reflecting growing pressure in Washington for a negotiated settlement as midterm elections approach.
The Ukrainian president told reporters at his office in Kiev on Friday evening that Donald Trump’s delegation had proposed a clear timetable for ending the fighting and were pressing for a signed agreement by June during peace talks in Abu Dhabi.
As part of that effort, the US has suggested for the first time that Ukrainian and Russian negotiating teams would meet on US soil – perhaps Miami – within the next week.
Zelensky indicated that Trump’s political views were shaping his administration’s approach to peace talks.
“Elections are definitely more important for them. Let’s not be naive,” he said. “They say they want everything done by June…so that the war is over. And they want a clear program.”
He said Kiev had proposed a clear “sequence plan” during the talks, without giving specific details. He said that security guarantees for Ukraine as well as a “prosperity plan” were also part of the negotiations, outlining Ukraine’s recovery after the war.
Zelensky said Washington had also asked Kiev and Moscow to agree to a new ceasefire covering attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure as a limited de-escalation measure during peace talks.
Ukraine is ready to stop its attacks on Russia’s oil and gas facilities as well as its shadow fleet of tankers in the Black and Mediterranean Seas, he said.
“Russia has yet to agree,” he said. Overnight into Saturday morning, the Russian military fired more than 400 drones and 40 missiles at Ukraine. Zelensky said the main target was “power grids, production and distribution substations”.
Trump said last week that Vladimir Putin had agreed to a one-week ceasefire at energy facilities as Kiev faces its harshest winter of the war. Russia had held off for just four days with massive missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital and power infrastructure elsewhere before being hit with more ballistic missiles than in any other bombing since the war began.
According to Zelensky, Ukrainian and Russian military representatives discussed in more detail the technical aspects of monitoring the ceasefire, should a decision be taken at the presidential level to end the war. He said Ukraine and Russia “have agreed on the idea that the Americans should monitor the ceasefire if the Russians do so”.
The FT previously reported that Ukraine had agreed a multi-layered plan with Western partners to respond to Russian ceasefire violations.
For the first time, the Ukrainian leader also highlighted parallel bilateral talks between the US and Russia, of which Kiev was not a part. He said his intelligence officers briefed him on discussions in which Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev was promoting development and cooperation deals worth $12 trillion.
Referring to it as the “Dmitriev package”, Zelensky expressed concern that the US–Russia document could contain provisions “regarding Ukraine” that would be unacceptable or even unconstitutional in Kiev.
“For example, with our sovereignty, with the security of Ukraine,” he said, referring to possible US recognition of an occupied territory like Crimea as Russian.
Zelensky said Ukraine and Russia remain far apart on the most controversial issues, particularly those having to do with Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region.
The United States continues to promote a free economic zone for the region. However, Zelensky said, “In general, neither Ukraine nor Russia have ever been thrilled with the idea of a free economic zone”.
“Russia wants us to leave the Donetsk region,” he said. But he stressed that Ukraine will not unilaterally withdraw from the region.
Zelenskyy said there had also been no “consensus” over post-war ownership of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control.
Despite what he described as a change in Russia’s tone during the latest round of peace talks, Zelensky warned that “there is still no trust” between Kiev and Moscow. He said: “We can’t trust them, and they can’t trust us.”
