Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky said he is ready to “some degree of compromise” on demand that a ceasefire be held before a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as long as Ukraine’s security guarantees are established.
His comments are “ongoing” as they openly contradict the White House story where Moscow is planning a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky.
European Ukraine and its allies have long pushed for a ceasefire as the first step towards ending the war.
But after US President Donald Trump pivots to support a “peace agreement” for an immediate ceasefire, Zelensky said he wants to be flexible.
“The proposed format is likely to involve some compromises,” he said.
“I told President Trump that in any case there will be a calm period to develop an entire plan to end the war, Zelensky said.
Zelensky told journalists Wednesday that Ukraine is waiting for the “security assurance architecture” to be established within seven to 10 days before setting a date for its meeting with the Kremlin.
“And based on that understanding, we aim to hold a trilateral meeting. That was my logic,” Zelensky noted Trump’s purpose, which was to finally sit between him, to stay between Putin and Zelensky.
Ukraine previously agreed to a portion of its security guarantee with Washington, which involves spending around $90 billion on US weapons, Zelensky’s costs stated:
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that the Kremlin had proposed to send high-level officials to talks with Istanbul’s Ukraine, but Russia did not confirm that it supports the meeting at the leadership level.
“President Putin has confirmed his preparations to continue the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, as you know.
Lavrov also said he would argue that discussing the security of Ukraine without Moscow is “utopia, not a path to where.”
The Kremlin poured cold water on leaders’ summit ideas and discussions of diplomatic progress on security assurances. He also painted a picture of the Ukrainian side preventing further consultations.
“There have been no responses from Ukraine so far, but following the phone conversation with President Trump yesterday, the President (Putin) suggested that they consider not only continuing these conversations, but also raising the level of the delegation’s chieftain,” Lavrov continued.
Importantly, consultations in Istanbul have so far included low- and technical level officials. In May, Putin decided not to appear in the discussions he himself proposed in Türkiye.
“We are ready for every format, but when it comes to high-level meetings, we need to prepare most carefully at every previous stage. This means that we must end negotiations where the summit does not cause any worsening of the situation and are actually ready to continue.”
CNN’s Clare Sebastian, Kristen Holmes and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
