President Voludmir Zelinski said on Thursday that Ukraine will not accept any bilateral agreements on its fate of Moscow and Washington in its absence, and called on Europe to obtain a seat at the negotiating table at the end of the war.
“It is important today that everything does not go according to the plan of Russian President Vladimir), as he wants to do everything to make his bilateral negotiations (with the United States),” Zelinski told reporters.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Sibha chanted the President’s comments, in an interview with Le Monda newspaper in France on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to visit each other and start talks to end the war in Ukraine, while Trump called a “very fruitful” call. It is still unclear whether Ukraine President Volodimir Zellinski will have a role in peace talks.
European leaders also warned the United States against closing the Ukraine peace agreement with Russia behind their appearance while they were scrambling for a seat on the table after Donald Trump announced his interest in starting negotiations after he spoke to Putin.
“We must make sure that Ukraine is at the core of this. There can be no negotiations without Ukraine being in its heart,” British Prime Minister Kerr Starmer told reporters in London.
The public media publications of the American program Trump and subsequent comments on Wednesday sent shock waves through European capitals, which want a major role in peace talks because any settlement in Ukraine, which was struck by a full Russian invasion on a large scale, will have repercussions for their security.
“It is clear that any deal behind our backs will not succeed. Any agreement will also need to be Ukraine and Europe as part of it.”
“Why do we give them (Russia) everything they want even before the start of negotiations?” Speaking to a meeting of NATO defense ministers with their Ukrainian counterpart in Brussels.
“It’s comfortable. It has never succeeded.”
Orban is strange among European leaders
US Defense Secretary Beit Higseth announced on Wednesday that it is unrealistic to Ukraine to return to the pre -2014 borders and that NATO in Kiev will not be part of a peace agreement. Russia seized the Crimea in Ukraine in 2014.
German Defense Secretary Boris Peporius also said it would have been better if Washington had not given what he called concessions to Moscow before peace talks began.
Beit Higseth says that NATO membership, before 2014, is not realistic for Ukraine in any ceasefire negotiations and that Europe must bear more expenses for defense in Ukraine.
The Lithuanian Defense Minister Sacalan said that Europe should not fall “under the illusion that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin will find a solution for all of us.”
Not all European leaders were concerned about Trump’s move.
Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Urban, Trump’s ally, who was more friendly with Putin than most European leaders, praised the US President and criticized the ministers’ statement.
“You can’t order a seat on the negotiating table. You have to earn it!” He said on social media.
European leaders say that one of the reasons for the need to participate in the talks is that Washington has made it clear that they expect them to provide security guarantees for any peace deal, which may mean that the European forces that are deployed in Ukraine.
“There is no choice not to be on the table, because we are very important in the actual implementation of these security guarantees,” said Dutch Defense Secretary Robin Brikans.
Ukraine tried to formulate close ties with the new Trump administration, as it presented a metal deal to win for us, while the Russian forces, which are already operating five Ukraine, continue to pressure the battlefield.
“In the hope of the best”: Kyiv’s residents interact
In interviews with Reuters, Kiev residents’s reaction to the possibility of rapid peace talks with a mixture of terrible and cautious hope.
“It seems as if they wanted to surrender Ukraine, because I do not see any benefits for our country from these negotiations or Trump’s speech,” said Miroslava Lesco, a resident of Kiev, who is in Kiev, standing near a sea of flags in the city center.
Some Ukrainians expressed frustration that the United States under the previous Joe Biden administration, despite the provision of billions in military aid, did not do enough to prepare the war in favor of Kiev.
“Trump is a strong will.” “He can decide what he wants, and in Ukraine, I think he has some plans.”
Maxim Chorin, the deputy commander of the third attack brigade fighting in the war, wrote on the Telegram application that he did not expect Ukraine to receive a quick membership in NATO anyway.
Olina Ciophaka, 38, director of Kiev, said that Ukraine has already been successful in securing foreign support that seemed unrealistic, citing the F-16 fighter planes provided by the Allies.
“I hope for the best,” she said. “I would like it, because the mood is not large.”
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