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LAST UPDATE | 28 mins ago
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR Zelenskyy has said negotiators are wrestling with the question of territorial possession in US-led peace talks on ending the war with Russia.
The issues include the future of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the world’s 10 biggest atomic plants.
Zelenskyy revealed details of discussions before he headed into urgent talks with leaders and officials from about 30 countries that support Kyiv’s efforts to obtain fair terms in any settlement to halt nearly four years of fighting.
In Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is continuing discussions with both sides.
She said that “if there is a real chance of signing a peace agreement”, then the US could send a representative to the talks as soon as this weekend.
But she added that it’s “still up in the air whether we believe real peace can be achieved”.
Trump long boasted about being able to solve Russia’s war in Ukraine in a day, but in recent months has complained bitterly about a lack of progress.
Leavitt echoed that during her briefing with reporters today, saying the president is “extremely frustrated with both sides of this war”.
She said the administration had spent 30-plus hours in recent weeks meeting officials from Russia and Ukraine as well as Europe, and that the president is “sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting”.
“He doesn’t want any more talk,” Leavitt said. “He wants action.”
Ukraine has submitted a 20-point plan to the US, with each point possibly accompanied by a separate document detailing the settlement terms.
“We are grateful that the US is working with us and trying to take a balanced position,” Zelenskyy told reporters in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. “But at this moment it is still difficult to say what the final documents will look like.”
Moscow has in recent months made a determined push to gain control of all parts of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk, which make up Ukraine’s valuable Donbas industrial region.
Ukraine does not accept the surrender of Donbas, Zelenskyy said, adding that both sides remaining along the line of contact would be “a fair outcome”.
US negotiators have put forward the possibility of a “free economic zone” in Donbas, with the Russians terming it a “demilitarised zone”, according to Zelenskyy.
Russian officials have not publicly disclosed their proposals.
US negotiators foresee Ukrainian forces withdrawing from the Donetsk region, with the compromise being that Russian forces do not enter, Zelenskyy said.
But he added that if Ukraine must withdraw its forces, the Russians should also withdraw by the same distance.
There are many unanswered questions, including who would oversee Donbas, he added.
The Russians want to retain control of the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine, which is not currently operating, but Ukraine opposes that.
The Americans have suggested a joint format to manage the plant, and negotiators are discussing how that might work, Zelenskyy said.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin was among the world leaders to take part in the meeting of Ukraine’s allies, dubbed the Coalition of the Willing, by video link this afternoon.
It was co-chaired by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President of France Emmanuel Macron.
Zelenskyy indicated the talks were hastily arranged as Kyiv officials scramble to avoid getting boxed in by Trump, who has disparaged the Ukrainian president, painted European leaders as weak, and set a strategy of improving Washington’s relationship with Moscow.
In the face of Trump’s demands for a swift settlement, European governments are trying to steer the peace negotiations because they say their own security is at stake.
Next week, Ukraine will co-ordinate with European countries on a bilateral level, Zelenskyy said late yesterday, and European Union countries are due to hold a regular summit in Brussels at the end of next week.
Speaking after today’s meeting, Martin remarked that it was “an opportunity to take stock of the state of the talks and to hear from President Zelenskyy on Ukraine’s ongoing engagement with the US”.
“Today’s meeting reiterated our full and unequivocal support to President Zelenskyy and our assurances that we will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” said Martin.
He added that Ireland wants to see a peace that provides guarantees for Ukraine’s future security and said this is also “crucial for Europe’s future security”.
“It is important therefore that the EU and other European partners are involved in shaping the final outcome,” said Martin, who called for increased pressure on Russia and the “mobilisation of frozen Russian assets in support for Ukraine”.
The EU has been weighing a tough decision on using frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine, but it has been tangled up in legal argument amid opposition from Belgium, which has voiced fears of potential financial and legal reprisals from Moscow.
Martin also reiterated his support for Ukraine’s path towards EU membership and called for this to be accelerated.
Meanwhile, Tánaiste and Finance Minister Simon Harris said this week will be critical to determine how the EU supports Ukraine over the coming months in the war against Russia.
Harris was speaking from Brussels where he attended his first meeting of finance ministers from Europe’s 20-country single currency area.
He said it was important that the block works out a mechanism “as to how we’re going to support Ukraine” over the coming months.
At its core, Harris said, that mechanism has to do two things.
“It has to fundamentally support Ukraine for here and now, because the funding need is urgent,” the Tánaiste added.
“But secondly, it has to also make sure that Russia pays. And I welcome the fact that today or tomorrow – this week – we will take measures to immobilize, on a longer-term basis, Russian assets. I think that’s an appropriate thing to do.”
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