“Impossible to exclude Ukraine”: Zelensky wants a “format” of talks with Russia including his country

Peace talks with Russia cannot have any “real results” without the approval of Ukraine. This is what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured this Saturday during a meeting in kyiv with his Moldovan counterpart Maia Sandu. The head of state also invited his allies to find a format for talks including Ukraine, he who had presented his allies last September with his “victory plan” supposed to guarantee Ukraine a “just peace”.

A “peace decree” without Ukraine?

“It is impossible to exclude Ukraine from any negotiating platform. Otherwise this negotiating platform will not have real results”underlined Volodymyr Zelensky, who fears that Russia will choose the form of a “peace decree” without the approval of Ukraine.

“Before any meeting, we should establish a format on paper: how can we achieve a just peace? I think we should focus on this today”he continued. 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.

Donald Trump ready to meet Vladimir Putin

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir said he was “ready to work” with the United States “negotiations on Ukrainian issues”praising the character “pragmatic” et “intelligent” of its American counterpart. If the Kremlin has not specified when the discussions could take place, the Russian administration has said it expects “signals” from Washington, Donald Trump having announced Thursday that he was ready to meet Vladimir Putin “immediately”.

At the beginning of the week, following his inauguration, the new tenant of the White House described this deadly war as “ridicule” and had threatened Russia with new economic sanctions if it did not agree to sit at the negotiating table. However, the Ukrainian president admitted that he could not 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 to discuss a format together.

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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 “negotiating the fate of Europe without Europe”he denounced.