Body
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that allies still need to answer questions about Ukraine’s future security guarantees, even as he thanked partners for air-defense systems that help protect critical infrastructure and “save lives.” Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskyy credited American and European support for defending power plants and other infrastructure while also pressing for clarity on what guarantees would mean in practice.
Zelenskyy said earlier U.S.-led efforts to find consensus on ending the war, including two rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, did not resolve difficult issues. He pointed in particular to disputes over the future of Donbas, an industrial heartland that is largely occupied by Russian forces.
Later, with reporters, Zelenskyy questioned how a free trade zone proposed by the United States would work in the Donbas region. He described the idea as unrealistic if the area required foreign soldiers to patrol and if Russian President Vladimir Putin provoked them, saying that scenario could lead to a “big occupation” of Ukraine and “a lot of losses.”
Zelenskyy also said the U.S. wants peace “as quickly as possible,” describing differences in the sequencing of agreements. He said the U.S. team wants to sign all the agreements on Ukraine at the same time, while Ukraine wants the guarantees for the country’s future security signed first.
In his remarks, Zelenskyy suggested that Russian officials oppose any foreign troop presence in Ukraine and tied that position to Putin’s incentives. He said he believed Putin wants to retain the opportunity to attack Ukraine again.
Zelenskyy said he was surprised Moscow had replaced the head of its negotiating team before another round of U.S.-brokered talks. He suggested the move was intended to delay negotiations, while also contending that it was unrealistic for Ukraine to withdraw from its own territory or exchange it.
He told the AP that it would be “a little bit crazy” to propose Kyiv should give up territory on its own ground. Zelenskyy said thousands of Ukrainians have been killed defending the Donbas region and noted that about 200,000 people live there, saying it would not be acceptable to effectively hand them over to Russia.
Zelenskyy added that a model involving foreign security guarantees would carry “big risks” for Ukraine and for any country committing to guarantee Ukraine’s security, but he said Ukraine was ready to discuss it as a possible compromise in exchange for support to reconstruct Ukraine.
During negotiations, Zelenskyy said Moscow has to accept monitoring of a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange in which Ukraine would receive the return of about 7,000 Ukrainian POWs in return for more than 4,000 Russian POWs held by Ukraine.
The diplomatic remarks came as fighting continued across a roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line. The AP reported that the day included drone strikes in both countries, with an elderly woman killed after a Russian drone hit a residential building in Odesa, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, and a civilian killed after a Ukrainian drone strike hit a car in Russia’s Bryansk region, according to regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz.
On the Ukrainian side, Russian-installed authorities said a Ukrainian airstrike wounded 15 people in Ukraine’s partially occupied Luhansk region. The attacks followed a day after a Ukrainian missile strike on Belgorod in Russia killed two people and wounded five, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov, as negotiations toward fresh talks in Geneva were expected next week.