On December 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed a crucial development for negotiations in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, his willingness to give up the country’s NATO offer in exchange for Western security guarantees, AP reported.
But he rejected pressure from United States envoys to cede territory to Russia as a way to end the years-long war, he added.
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Zelenskyy talks with Donald Trump’s envoys
Zelenskyy sat down with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Ukrainian leader posted pictures of the negotiating table with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sitting next to him facing the American delegation.
Responding to questions from journalists in audio clips on a WhatsApp group chat ahead of the talks, Zelenskyy said that as the US and some European states rejected Ukraine’s pressure to join NATO, Kiev expected the West to offer a set of guarantees similar to those offered to alliance members.
“These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” he said. “And that’s already a compromise on our part.”
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Ukraine requires legally binding security assurances from the US Congress
Russian President Vladimir Putin has identified Ukraine’s bid to join NATO as a major threat to Moscow’s security and a reason to launch a full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine drop its bid for membership in the alliance as part of a possible peace settlement.
Zelenskyy stressed that any security assurances would have to be legally binding and backed by the US Congress, adding that he expected an update from his team after a meeting of Ukrainian and US military officials in Stuttgart, Germany.
In a social media post on Witkoff’s account after the five-hour meeting, the US government said “great progress has been made”.
For months, Washington has tried to navigate the demands of both sides, while Trump has pressed for a quick end to the Russian war and has grown increasingly irritated by delays. The search for possible compromises has hit major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.
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Difficult obstacles remain
Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control among key peace terms, which Kiev has rejected.
Zelenskyy said that the US had put forward an idea for Ukraine to withdraw from Donetsk and create a demilitarized free economic zone there, a proposal he rejected as unfeasible.
“I don’t think it’s fair because who’s going to run this economic zone?” he said. “If we are talking about some buffer zone along the line of contact, if we are talking about some economic zone and we believe that there should only be a police mission and the soldiers should withdraw, then the question is very simple. If Ukrainian troops are withdrawing, for example, by 5-10 kilometers, why don’t Russian troops withdraw deeper into the occupied territories by the same distance?”
Zelenskyy described the matter as “very sensitive” and insisted on freezing the line of contact, saying that “standing where we stand today is a fair possibility.”
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Will the future peace plan last long?
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuriy Ushakov told business daily Kommersant that Russian police and the National Guard would remain in parts of the Donetsk region even if it becomes a demilitarized zone under a future peace plan.
Ushakov warned that finding a compromise could take a long time, noting that U.S. proposals that took into account Russian demands were “deteriorated” by adjustments proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
In speeches broadcast on Russian state television on Sunday, Ushakov said “the contribution of Ukrainians and Europeans to these documents is unlikely to be constructive” and warned that Moscow “will have very strong objections”.
Ushakov added that the territorial issue was actively discussed in Moscow when Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin earlier this month. “The Americans know and understand our position,” he said.
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Zelenskyy talks with France’s Macron
Zelenskyy said he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday just before meeting with Trump’s envoys, thanking him on X for his support, adding that “we are closely coordinating and cooperating for the sake of our shared security.”
Macron promised at X that “France is and will remain on the side of Ukraine to build a solid and lasting peace – one that can guarantee the security and sovereignty of Ukraine and Europe in the long term.”
Merz, who spearheaded the European effort to support Ukraine alongside Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said on Saturday that “the decades of ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.”
He warned that Putin’s goal is “a fundamental change of borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders.”
“If Ukraine falls, it will not stop,” Merz warned at a party conference in Munich on Saturday.
Putin has denied plans to rebuild the Soviet Union or attack any European allies.
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Russia and Ukraine exchange airstrikes
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia fired ballistic missiles and 138 attack drones into Ukraine overnight. The Air Force said 110 were intercepted or shot down, but missile and drone strikes were recorded at six locations.
Zelenskyy said on Sunday that hundreds of thousands of families were still without power in the southern, eastern and northeastern regions, and work was continuing to restore electricity, heat and water in several regions after a large-scale attack the previous night.
The Ukrainian president said that over the past week, Russia had launched over 1,500 strike drones, nearly 900 guided aerial bombs and 46 missiles of various types into Ukraine.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 235 Ukrainian drones late Saturday and early Sunday.
In the Belgorod region, a drone injured a man and set fire to his house in the village of Yasnye Zori, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Ukrainian drones hit an oil warehouse in Uryupinsk in the Volgograd region, causing a fire, according to regional governor Andrey Bocharov.
In the Krasnodar region, Ukrainian drones attacked the city of Afipsky, where an oil refinery is located. Authorities said the blasts shattered windows in residential buildings but did not report any damage to the refinery.
Key things
- On December 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi expressed his willingness to give up the country’s NATO offer in exchange for Western security guarantees.
- However, he rejected US pressure to cede territory to Russia as a way to end the war.
- “These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression. And this is already a compromise on our part,” he said.
