US linking security guarantees to Ukraine giving up Donbas, Zelensky says

KYIV - The US has made its offer of security guarantees needed for a peace deal in Ukraine conditional on Kyiv ceding all of the country’s eastern region of Donbas to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Reuters in an interview.

With the US now focused on its own conflict with Iran, President Donald Trump is applying pressure on Ukraine in an effort to bring a quick end to the four-year-old war triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion, Mr Zelensky said.

“The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump, and I think, on his next steps. President Trump, unfortunately, in my opinion, still chooses a strategy to put more pressure on the Ukrainian side,” he told Reuters.

The US, Russia and Ukraine have held three rounds of high-level, trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi and Geneva in 2026 in a bid to negotiate an end to Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II, which has laid waste to swathes of Ukraine and killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said robust security guarantees from international partners are needed to ensure that Russia does not restart hostilities in the future, if a peace deal is agreed.

Two vital questions remain unresolved regarding security guarantees, according to Mr Zelensky: Who would help to fund Ukraine’s weapons purchases to sustain its military deterrent, and how exactly would its allies respond in the face of any future Russian aggression?

“The Americans are prepared to finalise these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas,” he said, adding that he understood the “subtleties” of the American position although he had not participated directly himself in the trilateral talks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin insists that control of the whole of Donbas is an essential element of his war aims, which Moscow would achieve on the battlefield if it could not do so at the negotiating table.

But the pace of Russia’s advance has been slow over the past two years. Military analysts say it could take a long time and a significant amount of manpower to conquer all of Donbas, which includes a so-called Fortress Belt of cities heavily fortified by the Ukrainian military.

Mr Zelensky warned that such a withdrawal would compromise the security of both Ukraine and, by extension, Europe, because it would cede the region’s strong defensive positions to Russia.

“I would very much like the American side to understand that the eastern part of our country is part of our security guarantees,” he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Zelensky had said in January that the security guarantees document between Ukraine and the US was “100 per cent ready” and waiting to be signed.

Then, on March 24, following talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Miami, he said that there was still work to be done.

Russia is betting US will walk away, Zelensky says

Speaking in the presidential compound in the centre of Kyiv, Mr Zelensky said that Russia – which has consistently demanded territory in Donbas still under Ukrainian control – was betting Washington would lose interest in the talks and walk away.

He acknowledged that there was some risk of this.

A fourth round of trilateral talks due in March was postponed due to the Iran conflict.

Mr Zelensky questioned, however, whether Russia was willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands more soldiers in an effort to capture the area of Donbas it does not already control – roughly 6,000 sq km.

He repeated that a summit with Mr Trump, Mr Putin and himself was the only way to settle outstanding questions on territory and security guarantees to clinch a peace deal.

The Ukrainian leader shrugged off past tensions between himself and Mr Trump. “I am not a box of chocolates or a car, to be liked or disliked by one person or another,” he said. “In my opinion, the President of the United States looks at this more pragmatically, and he probably wants the war to end quickly. We also want to do so quickly.”

Following heavy Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities on March 25, Mr Zelensky thanked the Trump administration for maintaining the supplies of Patriot missile defence systems, despite increased demand for these weapons because of the conflict in the Gulf.

Ukrainian officials have previously expressed fears that shipments of US-made Patriots – the only missiles capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles – would dry up because of the Iran conflict.

“We were not stopped from deliveries. I’m very grateful to President Trump, and to his team,” Mr Zelensky said.

“But this supply of Patriot missiles is not as large as we need.”

Ukraine was making progress in its production of its own long-range missiles and drones, allowing it to strike deep within Russia in retaliation for Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities, he said. REUTERS