Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to give up on demands for Nato membership in exchange for security guarantees from the US and Europe, in a move aimed at advancing peace talks in Berlin on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner have pushed Ukraine to accept painful concessions, including ceding frontline territory to Russia, ahead of talks with Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s European allies on the White House plan to end Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskyy told reporters on Sunday any plan will involve concessions but that Ukraine still requires security guarantees from the US and Europe, similar to Nato’s Article 5 clause of mutual protection for any member under attack.
“We are talking about bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the United States — namely, Article 5–like guarantees . . . as well as security guarantees for us from our European partners and from other countries such as Canada, Japan and others,” Zelenskyy told journalists in a WhatsApp chat.
Russia has said it would reject all of Ukraine and Europe’s proposals, throwing doubt on whether Trump’s push to end the nearly four-year war could succeed.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine has yet to receive a response from Washington to revised proposals sent earlier this week from Kyiv after consultations with European leaders.
“The plan will certainly not be one that everyone likes. There are many compromises in one or another version of the plan,” he said.
This is a developing story
Credit: Source link
