President of Ukraine announces separate talks with US and Russia
Photo: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine (facebook.com_zelenskyy.official)
On Thursday, February 26, National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Secretary Rustem Umerov will meet with US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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The President emphasizes that this would be the first bilateral meeting with US representatives.
"The first issue is the prosperity package, that is, the package for Ukraine's recovery, and the details will be discussed. The second issue is preparations for a trilateral meeting with Russia, which we believe will take place in early March," he says in his statement.
In addition, Zelenskyy emphasized that Umerov was tasked with discussing the details of the exchange.
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine spokesperson Diana Davitian told reporters that Umerov's meeting with US negotiators would take place in Geneva.
Background
On Tuesday, February 24, Witkoff said that he and Kushner would visit Geneva, where they would meet with Umerov. According to the US Special Envoy, the purpose of this meeting is to continue the dialogue and explore various options for concluding a peace agreement.
In addition, Witkoff said that after that, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine may visit Florida.
Ukraine-US-Russia talks
On February 21, Zelenskyy held talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. During the conversation, the President told him about preparations for the fourth round of negotiations, as well as possible changes in the positions of the parties.
Zelenskyy also told Rutte that the next negotiations are again planned in Geneva and are expected within the next 10 days.
Before that, on February 17-18, the third round of trilateral negotiations between Ukraine, the US, and Russia took place in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to Axios, the political part of the negotiations reached an impasse due to the positions voiced by the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky. What exactly he said remains unknown, but Russia continues to demand the withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Donbas.
At the same time, CNN wrote that the military group of negotiators had achieved results. In particular, significant progress was made on how the ceasefire would work.
Earlier, the President of Ukraine stated that in the event of a ceasefire, the US would be primarily responsible for monitoring. He also confirmed that no agreement had been reached on the Donbas issue.
