Volodymyr Zelensky says no peace deal with out Ukraine involvement

Ukraine is not going to comply with any peace deal proposed by the US and Russia with out its involvement, President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned, after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin pledged to start talks to finish the conflict.

“We can’t settle for it, as an impartial nation,” Zelensky stated.

The US president earlier stated there was a “good risk” of ending the conflict after he and his Russian counterpart spoke on the cellphone on Wednesday. But it surely was not “sensible”, he added, for Ukraine to hitch Nato, and “unlikely” that it may return to its pre-2014 borders.

Individually, Trump introduced a gathering of “high-level folks” from the US, Ukraine and Russia at a safety convention in Munich on Friday.

He stated he was not “positive precisely who’s going to be there from any nation”.

Russia, which isn’t participating within the annual discussion board, has not publicly commented on Trump’s declare.

Zelensky’s adviser Dmytro Lytvyn instructed reporters that “talks with Russians in Munich usually are not anticipated”.

Earlier, it was introduced that Zelensky would meet US Vice-President JD Vance within the German metropolis on Friday.

Zelensky, who additionally had a person name with Trump on Wednesday, stated Ukraine couldn’t settle for “any agreements [made] with out us”.

He stated “Europeans wanted to be on the negotiating desk too” and he instructed Trump his precedence was “safety ensures”, one thing he didn’t see with out US assist.

In a later publish on X discussing a name with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, he stated negotiations couldn’t start with out a united place from Ukraine, Europe and the US.

“I emphasised that Ukraine should negotiate from a place of power, with robust and dependable safety ensures, and that Nato membership can be essentially the most cost-effective for companions,” he stated.

“I additionally warned world leaders towards trusting Putin’s claims of readiness to finish the conflict.”

Ukraine’s European allies additionally rejected any transfer in direction of a compelled settlement on Kyiv.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey stated there could possibly be “no negotiation about Ukraine with out Ukraine, and Ukraine’s voice should be on the coronary heart of any talks”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected a “dictated peace” and his defence minister stated it was “regrettable” Washington was already making “concessions” to the Kremlin.

In an handle to reporters at Nato talks in Brussels, EU overseas coverage chief Kaja Kallas accused Washington of “appeasement” in direction of Russia.

“We should not take something off the desk earlier than the negotiations have even began as a result of it performs to Russia’s court docket and it’s what they need,” she stated.

Trump, who made the primary publicly acknowledged White Home name with Putin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, stated he would meet with Putin in Saudi Arabia. He gave no additional particulars a couple of potential date.

Chatting with reporters on Wednesday within the Oval Workplace, he stated Putin “needs it [the war] to finish” and he anticipated a ceasefire quickly.

When requested if Ukraine was an equal member within the peace course of, he added “they must make peace”.

His Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth instructed a press convention on the Nato summit on Thursday that peace negotiations can be “had with each” Putin and Zelensky” and he described Trump because the “excellent dealmaker”.

Hegseth, who on Wednesday stated it was “unrealistic” to count on Ukraine to return to pre-2014 border and downplayed the prospect of Ukraine becoming a member of Nato, appeared to row again on his remarks, saying “every thing was on the desk” and the conversations had been being led by the president.

The defence secretary additionally steered monetary help to Ukraine throughout negotiations could possibly be on the desk, in addition to US troop numbers in Europe.

Following the overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president in 2014, Moscow annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and backed pro-Russian separatists in bloody combating in jap Ukraine.

The battle burst into all-out conflict practically three years in the past.

Moscow’s makes an attempt to take management of the capital Kyiv had been thwarted, however Russian forces have taken round a fifth of Ukraine’s territory within the east and south, and have carried out air strikes throughout the nation.

Ukraine has retaliated with artillery and drone strikes, in addition to a floor offensive towards Russia’s western Kursk area.