Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski urged the Allies on Friday to rapidly raise talks for security guarantees for leaders, while defense ministers in the European Union have committed to train Kiev in Ukrainian territory in the case of an armistice, Reuters and Agerpres reports.
Kiev is employed in a diplomatic action to try to end the war triggered by Russia, now in the fourth year, and to obtain essential commitments from its partners to reject any future invasion.
The Ukrainian president said he is expected to continue discussions with European leaders next week on NATO's “similar to those of Ukraine, adding that US President Donald Trump should also be involved.
“We need the architecture to be clear to everyone,” he said, stating that he wanted to tell Trump “as we see things.”
Zelenski spoke shortly before his cabinet boss, Andrii Iermak, talks to the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, at a meeting in New York, about the need to increase the pressure on Moscow.
Ukrainian officials say that Russia, who continued to attack rocket and drone cities and press with an offensive on the battlefield, has no interest in peace.
“Russia fails to fulfill anything about what is necessary to end the war and clearly prolongs hostilities,” Jermak wrote on X.
Diplomatic efforts to end the large -scale invasion of Russia have so far given little results, even after Trump has met separately with Russian and Ukrainian leaders earlier this month.
Zelenski also discussed the deadline for Trump to decide on new measures against Russia, unless President Vladimir Putin does not engage in a face -to -face meeting with the Ukrainian leader.
“Monday will be done for two weeks. And we will remind them of all,” he said.
Russia has said that there is no agenda for potential summit between Putin and Zelenski.
Ukrainian prime minister Iulia Sviridenko, also visiting New York, is about to meet with representatives of the American business environment to discuss investments in Ukraine, Zelenski added.
Kiev officials consider American funding, especially as part of an agreement on critical minerals concluded earlier this year, as essential to ensure a sustainable peace solution.
Defense ministers from the European Union, gathered on Friday in Copenhagen, expressed their “broad support” to expand the military training mission to operate inside Ukraine, said Kaja Kallas, head of EU diplomacy.
Trump, who in recent weeks has seemed more willing to support Kiev's defense against Russia, said that Europe must provide much of any effort to strengthen Ukraine's security.
“The EU has already coached over 80,000 Ukrainian soldiers,” Kallas wrote on X. “We must be prepared to do more,” she added.
Russia has constantly opposed the presence of any NATO troops in Ukraine.
“Large support” for training Ukrainian soldiers in Ukraine by EU countries. What is the prerequisite to be met
Zelenski said he wants the Allies to ratify any security guarantees through their parliaments, invoking a 1994 agreement by which Kiev gave up his nuclear arsenal in exchange for security insurance that proved to be insufficient to discourage Russia.
“We want legal security guarantees from a legal point of view. We do not want (another) memorandum from Budapest,” he said.
Germany and France presented a deeper cooperation plans on Friday, including an early rocket warning, following a meeting between Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Emmanuel Macron.
