President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Ukraine would not accept bilateral agreements about the fate of Moscow and Washington in his absence, and asked Europe to have a place at the negotiating table at the end of the war.
“Today it is important that everything does not go to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s plan in which he wants to do everything to make his negotiations bilaterally (with the USA),” Zelenskyy told reporters.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha repeated the president’s comments on Thursday in an interview with the Le Monde newspaper in France.
The European heads of state and government also warned the United States about the covetation of a Ukraine peace agreement with Russia behind their backs when they sat around a seat at the table after US President Donald Trump announced an interest in the beginning of the negotiations after He had confirmed that he spoke to Putin.
“We have to ensure that the focus is on Ukraine. There can be no negotiations without the focus of Ukraine,” said British Prime Minister Keir Starrer to reporters in London.
Kaja Kallas, Vice President of the Commission, says that Europe says that Europe has to implement an armistice, so Russia, the USA, should not negotiate an armistice behind our back.
Trump’s social media post and the subsequent comments on Wednesday sent shock waves by European capitals that want to have a central role in peace discussions, since each settlement in Ukraine, which is affected by a complete Russian invasion three years ago, for their own Security will have framework for your own security.
“It is clear that a deal will not work behind our back. Every agreement must also be Ukraine and Europe, which are part of it,” said the Vice President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas when the leaders met in Brussels.
“Why do we (Russia) give everything you want before the negotiations started?” Kallas said before a meeting by NATO defense minister with her Ukrainian counterpart in Brussels.
“It is appeasement. It never worked.”
The spokesman for Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said in an interview with Russian state television: “In one way or another, Ukraine will of course take part in the negotiations.”
However, he added: “There will be a bilateral Russian-American track of this dialogue and a track related to the participation of Ukraine.”
Pete Hegseth says that NATO membership, the borders before 2014, is not realistic for Ukraine in any ceasefire negotiations and that Europe shoulder more costs for the defense of Ukraine.
The US defense minister Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that it was unrealistic for Ukraine to return to the borders before 2014, and that NATO membership for Kyiv would not be part of a peace agreement. Russia confiscated and annexed the Crimea Peninsula of Ukraine in 2014.
Hegseth worked on these comments 24 hours later and rejected any suggestions that the United States has already given the Russian preferences or the leverage of Ukraine and its western allies.
“Simply pointing out realism like the limits is not attributed to what everyone wants to be in 2014 is not a concession for Vladimir Putin,” he said. “It is a rejection of hard power realities on site after many victims of first Ukrainians and then allies and then a realization that a negotiated peace will be a kind of demarcation that does not want any side.”
“Do not make a mistake, President Trump will not allow anyone to” transform Uncle Sucker “on” Uncle Sucker, “he added.
Orban an outlier among European leaders
The German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also said that it would have been better if Washington hadn’t given what he had given concessions in Moscow after the peace talks began.
The Lithuanian Minister of Defense Dovile Sacalien said that Europe should not “fall under the illusion that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin will find the solution for all of us”.
Not all European leaders were alerted by Trump’s move.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an ally of Trump, who was also friendlier than most European leaders, praised the US President and criticized the declaration of the ministers.
“You cannot request a seat at the negotiating table. You have to earn it!” He said on social media.
After US President Donald Trump asked whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be an equal partner in peace talks with Russia, Defense Minister from NATO countries, including Canada’s Bill Blair, said that there should be no discussion about the Ukrainian area without Ukraine.
European leaders say a reason why they have to be involved in conversations is that Washington has made it clear that they expect security guarantees to provide for every peace agreement, which could mean that European troops are used in Ukraine.
“There is no way of not being at the table because we are very important for the actual implementation of these security guarantees,” said Dutch Minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans.
Ukraine has tried to establish close relationships with the new Trump government and to offer a mineral contract to make us accessible, while the Russian armed forces, who already occupy a fifth of Ukraine, maintain the pressure of the battlefield.
“I hope for the best”: Kyiv residents react
In interviews with Reuters, the residents of Kyiv reacted to the prospect of quick peace talks with a mixture of dismay and careful hope.
“It really looks like they want to hand over Ukraine because I see no advantages for our country of these negotiations or Trump’s rhetoric,” said Myroslava Lesko in Kyiv, 23, near a sea of flags in the city center and honor In honor of fallen troops.
Some Ukrainians have frustrated that the United States had not done enough under the former Joe Biden government, although they had provided billions of military help, to tip the war in favor of Kyiv.
“Trump is a strong willing person,” said Hryhoriy Buhoyets, 60.
Maksym Zhorin, deputy commander of the third attack brigade that is fighting in the war, wrote in the Telegram app that he hadn’t expected Ukraine anyway that she would receive a quick NATO membership.
Olena Chiupika, 38, manager in Kyiv, said that Ukraine has already proven to secure foreign support that was once unrealistic, and quoted the F-16 fighting aircraft provided by allies.
“I hope for the best,” she said. “I want because the mood is not great.”
