Zelensky Seeks 50-Year US Security Guarantees as Ukraine Peace Talks With Trump Near Completion:
Volodymyr Zelensky stated during talks on a revamped peace plan with Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday that the United States had promised Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years.
The head of Ukraine has now stated that he would prefer guarantees for up to 50 years, despite the US president claiming that a deal on this matter was “close to 95” completed.
With minimal comment on the future of Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, President Zelensky listed territorial disputes and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as the final unsolved issues.
A Kremlin spokesman on Monday agreed with Trump’s view that peace is closer, despite Russia’s prior rejection of important aspects of the proposal, according to Russian-owned news agency Tass.
Speaking to reporters at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort following Sunday’s meeting, Zelensky reiterated his assessment that a comprehensive peace deal was 90% of the way there a statement he had made prior to the visit.
Additionally, the leaders of the US and Ukraine both said that progress had been made on one major issue of contention: security guarantees for Ukraine. He hoped that any security assurances would start as soon as Kyiv signed a peace agreement, according to news agency Reuters.
“This conflict cannot be deemed fully over without security assurances. According to news agency AFP, Zelensky stated, “We cannot acknowledge that it has ended because there remains a risk of renewed aggression with such a neighbor.”
The topic of territories and the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor, which is located in Ukrainian territory under Russian authority, are two fundamental issues that President Zelensky believes are still unaddressed in the plan.
Approximately 75% of the Donetsk region and 99% of the neighboring Luhansk region are currently under Moscow’s control. Donbas is the aggregate name for the two areas.
Trump told reporters that an agreement on Donbas was still “unresolved, but it’s getting a lot closer” following their discussion.
Negotiations have been hampered by Russia’s persistent refusal to give up on its goal of gaining complete control of Donbas.
Ukraine should remove its forces from the area that Kyiv still controls, the Kremlin reiterated on Monday. Zelensky has emphasized that any discussions on this should involve the Ukrainian people, despite Ukraine’s insistence that the region might become a free economic zone under its military control, according to Reuters.
In September, the US president shocked onlookers by speculating that Ukraine could be able to reclaim the territory it had lost. The president has frequently shifted his own stance on this issue. Later on, he changed his mind.
Additionally, Trump has suggested that trilateral negotiations between the US, Russia, and Ukraine might take place “at the right time”.
Trump warned that stalled or abandoned negotiations that go “really badly” could result in the conflict lasting much longer, even if he is eager to add the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to the list of hostilities he claims to have ended.
As the US and Ukrainian delegations prepare arrangements for future negotiations, Zelensky proposed that the Ukrainian officials meet at the White House in January, possibly with European leaders.
Additionally, Kyiv’s allies will meet in Paris next month to discuss security guarantees, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Zelensky has stated that a 60-day ceasefire would be required before a referendum on a peace plan could be held in Ukraine.
Russia, however, opposes a temporary truce, which is said to have been discussed during a call between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Trump prior to Sunday’s meeting.
Russia’s former US Ambassador, Yuri Ushakov, stated that once Trump heard the Kremlin’s evaluation of the ideas, the two presidents agreed that a short-term truce suggested by the EU and Ukraine would actually make the crisis worse.
The person who started the call, Trump, admitted that Moscow was not very interested in a truce that would let Ukraine organize a referendum.
According to Kyiv, Russia launched 25 airstrikes on Sunday, 21 of which were shot down.
The majority of the 89 Ukrainian UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) that Russia’s forces intercepted on Sunday night were over the Bryansk region, according to the country’s Ministry of Defense.
Source: BBC News
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