Zelenskyy backs peace plan, 'will talk to Trump on disputed points'

WASHINGTON/KYIV: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday Kyiv was ready to advance a US-backed framework for ending the conflict with Russia and discuss disputed points with US President Donald Trump. Zelensky said the talks should include European allies.

In a speech to what are known as the coalition of the willing allies, Zelensky urged European leaders to hash out a framework for deploying a "reassurance force" to Ukraine and to keep backing Kyiv for as long as Moscow showed no inclination to end its invasion. US and Ukrainian officials have been trying to narrow the gaps between them over Trump's plan to end the war, with Ukraine wary of being strong-armed into accepting a deal largely on Russian terms, including territorial concessions.




"We firmly believe security decisions about Ukraine must include Ukraine, security decisions about Europe must include Europe ... Because when something is decided behind the back of a country or its people, there is always a high risk it simply won't work," Zelensky said, according to his speech text. "That framework is on the table, and we're ready to move forward together - with the USA, with the personal engagement of President Trump," Zelensky added.

A Ukrainian diplomat cautioned that territorial concessions remained a major sticking point, meaning a final deal was far from certain despite accords on various specific points. "These are really tough questions for us," the diplomat said.

Separately, Trump told a White House event he thought a deal on Ukraine was getting close but gave no other details, saying only: "We're going to get there." Zelensky could visit the US in the next few days to finalise a deal with Trump, Kyiv's national security chief Rustem Umerov said earlier on Tuesday, though there was no immediate confirmation of such a trip from the US side.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday said an amended peace plan must reflect the "spirit and letter" of an understanding reached between Putin and Trump at Alaska summit. "If the spirit and letter of Anchorage is erased in terms of the key understandings we have established then, of course, it will be a fundamentally different situation."

Kyiv's message hinted that an intense diplomatic push by the Trump govt could be yielding some fruit but any optimism could be short-lived, as Russia stressed it would not let any deal stray too far from its own objectives.

US army secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi on Monday and Tuesday, a spokesperson for Driscoll said. A Ukrainian official said Kyiv "supports the plan's essence, and some of the most sensitive issues remain as points for talks between presidents."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X that over the past week, the United States had made "tremendous progress toward a peace deal by bringing both Ukraine and Russia to the table." She added: "There are a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details that must be sorted out and require further talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the US."

(This is a Reuters story)