Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha says Kyiv wants to speed up U.S. brokered peace talks with Russia, arguing that only U.S. President Donald Trump has the political weight to seal a final deal.
In an interview in Kyiv, Sybiha said Ukraine and Russia must hold a face to face leaders’ summit to resolve the toughest remaining issues in a 20 point peace framework that has guided recent trilateral negotiations. He warned that campaigning for the U.S. mid term elections in November could soon distract Washington, so Ukraine is keen to “capitalise on momentum” in the talks.
On core territorial questions, he said the sides remain far apart, with Russia demanding that Ukraine formally hand over the remaining 20% of Donetsk it has yet to occupy and Kyiv insisting on regaining control of all its land, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. The latest talks in Abu Dhabi yielded no breakthrough but did produce a swap of 314 prisoners of war, the first exchange since October.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accepted a U.S. proposal for another round of talks in Miami and has said Washington hopes to end the war before the summer. Sources told Reuters that Ukrainian and U.S. officials have discussed aiming for a draft deal with Russia by March and putting it to a referendum alongside elections in May.
Sybiha stressed that robust Western security guarantees will be vital once any ceasefire takes effect, saying the U.S. has signalled readiness to ratify such guarantees in Congress even without sending American troops to Ukraine. He said some allies beyond Britain and France have privately agreed to deploy a deterrent force, and called for a NATO style “Article Five” mechanism plus Ukraine’s push to join the European Union to underpin its long term security.
The minister also cautioned that any side deals between Moscow and other states that recognise Russian sovereignty over Crimea or the Donbas would be “legally void” and rejected by Kyiv. He said Ukraine will never accept such moves, calling the conflict a test of international principles, not just a dispute over its own territory.
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