Ukraine peace talks stretch into second day at start of pivotal week for Europe
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X “there is a great deal of work under way on the diplomatic track right now”.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BERLIN – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky resumed talks with US President Donald Trump’s envoys in Berlin on Dec 15, after the US side said a “lot of progress” had been made on ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Mr Zelensky again met US envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner after five hours of talks on Dec 14, with other European leaders also holding meetings in the German capital throughout the day.
Ukraine said on Dec 14 it was willing to drop its ambition to join the NATO alliance
But it was not immediately clear how far talks had progressed on that or other vital issues such as the future of Ukrainian territory, and how much the talks in Berlin could persuade Russia to agree to a ceasefire.
Mr Zelensky said in a post on X “there is a great deal of work under way on the diplomatic track right now” but did not divulge details. His office later said the talks had ended.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Ukraine not joining NATO was a fundamental question in talks on a possible peace settlement. He said Russia expected an update from the US after the negotiations in Berlin.
Ukrainians oppose major concessions, poll shows
Mr Zelensky is walking a difficult line, under pressure from Mr Trump to agree to a deal but also needing something acceptable to the Ukrainian people.
Underscoring the challenge he faces, a poll published on Dec 15 showed three-quarters of Ukrainians reject major concessions in any peace deal.
The poll, by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, found that 72 per cent of Ukrainians were prepared for a deal that froze the current front line and contained some compromises.
However, 75 per cent believed a Russia-friendly plan that included Ukraine ceding territory or capping the size of its army without receiving clear security guarantees was “completely unacceptable”.
Just 21 per cent of Ukrainians trust Washington, the poll showed, down from 41 per cent last December. Trust in NATO also fell to 34 per cent from 43 per cent over the same period.
“If security guarantees are not unambiguous and binding... Ukrainians will not trust them, and this will affect the general readiness to approve the corresponding peace plan,” wrote KIIS executive director Anton Hrushetskyi.
European diplomacy faces crucial week
The talks come at the start of a pivotal week for Europe, with an EU summit on Dec 18 set to decide whether it can underwrite a massive loan to Ukraine with frozen Russian central bank assets.
Europe has come under fire from the Trump administration
The European Union and national governments have struggled to find a unified response to the US criticism.
EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Dec 15 to agree on new sanctions targeting the Russian shadow fleet of oil tankers, although the possibility of an eleventh-hour hitch to agreeing an EU trade deal with Latin America threatens to further undermine their attempts to put on a show of strength.
“The most important thing for us is now to ensure we can finance Ukraine,” said Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen in Brussels.
“We must take a decision to ensure that Ukraine is in a position to continue its freedom fight and to show the rest of the world that Europe is a strong player. Otherwise, we will give in to the picture painted by the American president, that Europe is weak.”
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who has been closely involved in the Ukraine talks and met Mr Zelensky on Dec 15 ahead of the US negotiations, sounded a tentatively hopeful note.
“I think we are at a critical moment in negotiations for peace,” he told Dutch TV programme Buitenhof broadcast on Dec 14.
“And at the same time, we’re probably closer to a peace agreement than we have been at any time during these four years,” said Mr Stubb.
Security guarantees among issues in focus
Mr Stubb said the sides were working on three main documents – the framework of a 20-point peace plan, one relating to security guarantees for Kyiv, and a third on reconstruction of Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the leaders of Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden are among those expected in the German capital on Dec 15.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine officially renounce its NATO ambitions and withdraw troops from the roughly 10 per cent of the eastern Donbas region which Kyiv still controls.
Moscow has also said that Ukraine must be a neutral country and that no NATO troops can be stationed there.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Dec 15 that taking over Ukraine’s Donbas region will “not be Putin’s endgame”.
“We have to understand that if he gets Donbas, then the fortress is down and then they definitely move on to taking the whole of Ukraine,” Ms Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, told reporters.
“If Ukraine goes, then other regions are also in danger.” REUTERS
