“During negotiations with the American delegation in Berlin, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi offered to abandon Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO in exchange for security guarantees from the West, Reuters reports. Negotiations to end the war were led by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who, according to an agency source, made brief remarks before leaving the two sides to negotiate. The meeting between the American and Ukrainian parties lasted about five hours. Special Representative of the President of the United States Steve Witkoff said afterwards that “significant progress has been made”. According to The Wall Street Journal, a person briefed on Sunday’s talks called them difficult, saying that the American side appears unwilling to compromise on its draft peace proposal. Other European leaders are to join the talks, which will continue today. “From the very beginning, Ukraine’s desire was to join NATO, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the USA and Europe did not support this direction. Thus, today bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the USA, guarantees for us from the USA, similar to Article 5, and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries – Canada, Japan – are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion. And this is already a compromise from our side,” Zelenskyy said in response to journalists’ questions on December 14. The move marks an important shift for Ukraine, which fought to join NATO as a defense against Russian attacks and has such an aspiration enshrined in its Constitution. Russia has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine officially abandon its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from the territory of Donbas controlled by Kyiv. Moscow also said that Ukraine should be a neutral country and no NATO troops could be stationed in Ukraine. In recent weeks, the US has again been trying to reach a peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv. As a result of the week-long negotiations, a document was prepared that is more acceptable to Kyiv, but there are controversial issues in the peace plan, in particular regarding the territory and security guarantees.”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
Negotiations to end the war were led by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who, according to an agency source, made brief remarks before leaving the two sides to negotiate. The meeting between the American and Ukrainian parties lasted about five hours.
Special Representative of the President of the United States Steve Witkoff said afterwards that “significant progress has been made”.
According to The Wall Street Journal, a person briefed on Sunday’s talks called them difficult, saying that the American side appears unwilling to compromise on its draft peace proposal.
Other European leaders are to join the talks, which will continue today.
“From the very beginning, Ukraine’s desire was to join NATO, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the USA and Europe did not support this direction. Thus, today bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the USA, guarantees for us from the USA, similar to Article 5, and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries – Canada, Japan – are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion. And this is already a compromise from our side,” Zelenskyy said in response to journalists’ questions on December 14.
The move marks an important shift for Ukraine, which fought to join NATO as a defense against Russian attacks and has such an aspiration enshrined in its Constitution.
Russia has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine officially abandon its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from the territory of Donbas controlled by Kyiv. Moscow also said that Ukraine should be a neutral country and no NATO troops could be stationed in Ukraine.
In recent weeks, the US has again been trying to reach a peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv. As a result of the week-long negotiations, a document was prepared that is more acceptable to Kyiv, but there are controversial issues in the peace plan, in particular regarding the territory and security guarantees.