US envoys arrive in Berlin for another round of Ukraine peace talks

Berlin, Dec 14 (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US envoys arrived in Berlin on Sunday for another round of talks intended to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv stuck

to their sharply opposite views of a prospective peace deal.

Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian, US and European officials will hold a series of meetings in Berlin. He said he will meet personally with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Berlin.

Responding to journalists’ questions in audio clips on a WhatsApp group chat, Zelenskyy emphasised the need for Ukraine to receive firm guarantees from the United States and European allies that would be similar to those offered to NATO members after the US and some European countries stonewalled Ukraine’s bid to join the military alliance.

“These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” he said. “And this is already a compromise on our part.” Zelenskyy emphasised that any security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the US Congress, adding that he expected an update from his team following a meeting between Ukrainian and US military officials in Stuttgart.

He said that he will meet separately with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and, possibly, other European leaders later in the evening. He said he hadn’t yet received any response from the US to Ukraine’s latest proposals on the peace plan.

Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.

Tough obstacles remain ——————————- Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control and abandon its bid to join NATO, among the key conditions for peace — demands Kyiv has rejected.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard would stay in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if they become a demilitarised zone under a prospective peace plan, a demand likely to be rejected by Ukraine as US-led negotiations drag on.

Ushakov warned that a search for compromise could take a long time, noting that the US proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.

Speaking to Russian state TV in remarks broadcast Sunday, Ushakov said that “the contribution of Ukrainians and Europeans to these documents is unlikely to be constructive,” warning that Moscow will “have very strong objections.” Ushakov added that the territorial issue was actively discussed in Moscow when Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin earlier this month. “The Americans know and understand our position,” he said.

Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Saturday that “the decades of the Pax Americana are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.” He warned that Putin’s aim is “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders.” “If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop,” Merz warned on Saturday during a party conference in Munich.

Putin has denied plans to restore the Soviet Union or attack any European allies. (AP) SKS SKS