Peace discussions with Russia could not have “real results” without Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky said this Saturday, while Vladimir Putin is accused of wanting to “negotiate the fate of Europe without Europe”. For his part, Donald Trump explained that he could end the war in “24 hours”.
President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Saturday that peace talks with Russia could not have “real results” without Ukraine, and called on his allies to find a format for talks that included kyiv.
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“It is impossible to exclude Ukraine from any negotiation platform. Otherwise this negotiation platform will not have real results,” declared the Ukrainian president during a meeting in kyiv with his Moldovan counterpart Maia Sandu.
Zelensky fears form of ‘peace decree’
“Before any meeting, there should be a format on paper: how can we achieve a just peace? I think we should focus on that today,” he said. he continued, fearing that Russia would choose the form of a “peace decree” without Ukraine’s approval.
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Since the election of Donald Trump to the White House, speculation about possible peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia has continued to grow, on the third anniversary of a high-intensity conflict.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir declared that he was “ready to work” with the United States in “negotiations on Ukrainian issues”, praising the “pragmatic” and “intelligent” character of his American counterpart. If the Kremlin did not specify when the discussions could take place, the Russian administration said it was waiting for “signs” from Washington, Mr. Trump having announced on Thursday that he was ready to meet Mr. Putin “immediately”.
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-At the start of the week, following his inauguration, the new tenant of the White House described this murderous war as “ridiculous” and threatened Russia with new economic sanctions if it did not agree to sit at the table. talks.
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No “common plan” for negotiation at the moment
However, President Zelensky admitted that he cannot say “what kind of negotiations will take place, what will be the structure of the negotiation process, because we do not yet have a common plan”, wanting the United States, Ukraine , Russia and the European Union are discussing a format together.
Presidential chief of staff Andriï Iermak had already assured Friday that kyiv was opposed to any peace negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump without Ukraine. Vladimir Putin wants to “negotiate the fate of Europe without Europe”, he denounced.
Presented to his allies in September then publicly revealed in mid-October, Volodymyr Zelensky detailed his “victory plan” supposed to guarantee Ukraine a “just peace”.
He also estimated in a video broadcast on Wednesday that Ukraine would need “at least 200,000 European troops” on its soil to guarantee the security of the country in the event of a truce, and thus avoid a new invasion. Outnumbered and less well equipped, Ukraine continues to lose ground on the battlefield.
The fighting continues to intensify
Moscow’s troops are now moving closer to the Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, located in the center of the country, a first since the start of the war in February 2022. A penetration of Russian forces into this region could lead Moscow to demand a sixth Ukrainian region .
If President Donald Trump has explained that he can end the war in “24 hours”, the fighting continues to intensify on both sides of the front line.
On Saturday, air attacks hit a residential building in the kyiv region, according to Ukrainian authorities, without causing any casualties.
Russian strikes also injured three people in the Kharkiv region in the northeast. In the Russian occupied territory of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, three people were killed in a Ukrainian strike according to the occupation authorities.
