KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine will hold intensive meetings to understand what kind of security guarantees its allies are willing to provide after receiving signals that the United States would back reinvigorated discussions seeking an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The details are being hammered out among national security advisers and military officials and Zelenskyy thinks they will take clearer shape within 10 days. He then expects to be ready to hold
direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since the full-scale invasion.
The talks could also be conducted in a trilateral format alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, Zelenskyy said.
“We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days. And based on that understanding, we aim to hold a trilateral meeting. That was my logic,” Zelenskyy said, speaking to reporters Wednesday after his trip to Washington along with Europe's top leaders.
“President Trump suggested a slightly different logic: a trilateral meeting through a bilateral one," Zelenskyy said. "But then we all agreed that, in any case, we continue working on the security guarantees, establishing this approximate framework, similar to Article 5. And what we have today is political support for this.”
Article 5 is NATO’s common defense guarantee under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on them all.
A venue for the meeting is being discussed with Switzerland, Austria and Turkey as possibilities, Zelenskyy added.
Kyiv still does not have clarity over what kind of support it can expect from allies. A coalition of more than 30 countries have in principle pledged to contribute to security guarantees but talks came to a standstill when the U.S. remained ambivalent about its role.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said working on security arrangements in Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement would not work, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.
“We cannot agree with the fact that it is now proposed to resolve collective security issues without the Russian Federation. This will not work. We have already explained more than once that Russia does not overstate its interests, but we will ensure our legitimate interests firmly and harshly,” Lavrov said at a news conference Wednesday
Recent positive signals from Trump suggesting the U.S. will support “Article 5-like” security guarantees and Ukraine’s hopes to join the European Union have reinvigorated those discussions, Zelenskyy said.
“Today we have a positive signal from America, from President Trump, from his team, that they will be participants in the security guarantees for Ukraine. And this opens up the possibility for other countries,” he added. “Now the general staff of key countries have already started talking about what they are ready for. And some countries that were not there will probably appear now.”
Turkey vocalized its readiness to provide security along the Black Sea after Trump appeared open to the possibility of supporting security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine is ready to hold direct talks with Putin.
“And what if the Russians are not ready? The Europeans raised the issue. If the Russians are not ready, then we would like to see a strong reaction from the United States,” he said.
Ukraine previously has expressed hope that the U.S. will punish Russia with more sanctions if it does not demonstrate a serious willingness to end the war.
Zelenskyy spoke positively about his meeting with Trump in the Oval Office on Monday alongside Europe’s top leaders. He sought to convince Trump that the battlefield situation was not as bad for Ukraine as Putin portrayed.
Zelenskyy pointed to errors in the U.S. map of the front line that he said showed Russia holding more territory than it actually does.
“President Trump was interested in hearing the details. We talked a lot about Donbas, about the East, what its importance is. I noted that if our military withdraws from this territory and it is occupied, then we will open the way to Kharkiv," Zelenskyy said, adding that he showed Trump roads leading to Ukraine's industrial center in Dnipropetrovsk.
“I noted to him that there are many important aspects here. If we are simply talking about withdrawing from the east, we cannot do this,” Zelenskyy said, noting that he believed Trump had understood him.
