Zelenskyy announces date of new talks with Russia in US — Territorial issue in focus
Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Getty Images)
The next round of peace talks involving the United States will take place next week, on February 17 or 18. Territorial issues will be discussed during the meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this in an interview with Bloomberg.
Zelenskyy noted that the talks will likely focus specifically on the territorial issue, as the most difficult one. It remains unclear, however, whether the Russians will agree to hold negotiations on US territory.
On the agenda is a US proposal to establish a free economic zone in Donbas. This option is viewed with skepticism by both sides of the war — Ukraine and Russia.
At the same time, Zelenskyy said the previous round of talks, which took place in the UAE, focused on how a ceasefire would function and how it would be monitored by the United States. However, the details could not be agreed upon due to the absence of higher-level political decisions.
Negotiators are currently working on the wording of a future agreement. Zelenskyy added that the discussions made it 100% clear that any future ceasefire would require monitoring with US participation.
"Russians have one wording, we have another one, the Americans have the third one. There is an understanding that there will be monitoring, but there is also an understanding more work is needed on wording and details," the president summarized.
Earlier, Zelenskyy said that, among other things, the United States is proposing the creation of a free economic zone in Donbas as a compromise to end the war. However, both sides are, to put it mildly, not enthusiastic about the idea.
Russia has not abandoned its claims to seize the entire Ukrainian Donbas and is also demanding "international recognition" of these territories as Russian rather than Ukrainian. Ukraine has already stated that it will never agree to this.
Russian officials have also claimed that they have not received a 20-point plan to end the war in Ukraine and say they are ready for compromises that do not alter the Kremlin’s so-called key principles. The Kremlin also refers to the so-called Anchorage agreements.
