Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is prepared to meet personally with Russian President Vladimir Putin if it would help resolve two key and most sensitive issues in the peace negotiations—territorial arrangements and future control of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).
This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha in an interview with European Truth.
Foreign ministers will not meet
Sybiha also stressed that he sees no reason to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov himself. According to him, this would only disrupt the existing negotiating framework.
"We should not create parallel efforts. There are established negotiating teams, which include representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Creating additional formats would not be timely or necessary," he added.
The minister also said that the negotiating teams had already held substantive discussions on the parameters of a possible ceasefire, as well as on mechanisms for monitoring and verifying compliance.
Pressure from the US
According to Reuters sources, the United States has told Ukraine that signing a peace agreement with Russia is a condition for obtaining US security guarantees. These are crucial for Kyiv.
The Financial Times also reported that the Trump administration has indicated to Ukraine that security guarantees could depend on the conclusion of a peace agreement – probably at the cost of ceding Donbas to Russia.
However, a source familiar with internal discussions told Reuters that the United States is not dictating the specific content of the agreement to Ukraine and that claims of pressure for territorial concessions are misleading.
Further trilateral talks
On January 26, President Zelensky announced that preparations were underway for another trilateral meeting between the negotiating teams of Ukraine, the United States, and Russia, which was to take place on Sunday, February 1.
After the last round of talks, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner expressed cautious optimism that an agreement could be reached in the near future.
President Zelensky said on Sunday that the US document on security guarantees for Ukraine is "100 percent ready" and that Kyiv is just waiting for the time and place of its signing to be determined. At the same time, however, he repeatedly emphasized that Ukraine's territorial integrity must be preserved in any peace agreement.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has said that the issue of territory remains a fundamental point for Russia in any settlement of the conflict.
According to the Financial Times, uncertainty is growing in Kyiv as to whether Washington will actually sign the security guarantees. A senior Ukrainian official told the newspaper that the United States "always stops just when it is about to sign the security guarantees."
(reuters, europska pravda, est)