Zelensky announces that the US has proposed new Russian-Ukrainian negotiations. “To be honest, we have to see what happens next in the Middle East”
The administration of US President Donald Trump has proposed holding a new round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine next week, with the mediation of the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Tuesday, according to which the talks could take place in Switzerland or Turkey.
“We are considering the meeting to take place next week. It is an American proposal, but to be honest, we have to see what else will happen in the Middle East until then. The meeting could take place in Switzerland or Turkey,” Zelenski said at an online press conference, reports Agerpres.
Earlier, he wrote on the X social network that he had a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and noted that Turkey expressed its willingness to host this new trilateral meeting aimed at ending the war triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Several rounds of negotiations, no progress
The third round of U.S.-mediated Ukraine-Russia talks took place on February 17-18 in Geneva and ended without progress, apart from further prisoner exchanges and addressing ways to verify a ceasefire once a peace deal is reached, a prospect that remains remote.
According to diplomatic sources, the talks were very tense and Russia did not give in to its demands, in particular that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas to it, i.e. a territory of approximately 20% of Donetsk province still under the control of the Ukrainian army and an insignificant portion of Luhansk province, the latter being 99% under Russian control.
But Zelenski still refuses to politically undertake such a territorial cession and demands that any such decision be validated by a referendum, which he claims will a priori reject the cession of Donbass.
