After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the conclusions of negotiations on a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia could be known in “weeks”, and announced possible new negotiations with European leaders in Washington. But there are still obstacles to unblocking the deal that aims to end the nearly four-year conflict between the two countries, the main one being Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to adhere to the peace agreement proposed by kyiv.
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— I’ve solved eight wars, and this is the hardest — Trump said with Zelensky at his side, referring to the imprecise list of conflicts he claims to have mediated. — I thought it would be one of the most difficult.
The 20-point plan was developed after weeks of negotiations between Washington and kyiv, but has yet to receive Moscow’s approval and is gaining weight after a massive Russian missile and drone attack on kyiv on Saturday.
Trump and Zelensky have said little about the disputed territory in the Donbas region, one of the main obstacles that has prolonged the negotiations. The conflict over the territory, largely controlled by Russia since the start of the war, has made previous peace negotiations unfeasible.
Zelensky told reporters last week that he was ready to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the region in order to create a demilitarized zone, but Russia has given no indication that it will relinquish control of the region.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested in statements to Russia’s Tass news agency on Sunday that the Kremlin would not accept the presence of European peacekeepers in the disputed territory. He added that the troops would be a “legitimate target” for the Russian military and accused Europe of being the “main obstacle” to peace in Ukraine.
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Another point of contention concerns the Zaporizhia plant, which would be fundamental to the extraction of rare minerals that the United States wants to explore. Trump has suggested that Putin would be willing to work with Ukraine.
— President Putin is actually working with Ukraine to facilitate the reopening of the factory, — he said. — That’s a big step, considering he’s not bombing the factory.
Russia has a good reason not to bomb the plant: its forces are currently occupying it.
Ukraine, for its part, has repeatedly stated that it will not cooperate with Russia in jointly operating the plant.
Analysts say Putin, encouraged by his forces’ slow but steady advance on the battlefield, is unlikely to accept the peace proposal and will instead stick to its higher demands. Among them, the cession of disputed Ukrainian territory and the reduction of Ukrainian armed forces.
The meeting took place in a very different situation from the first bilateral talks at the White House earlier this year, which were abruptly halted after U.S. officials accused Zelensky of showing insufficient gratitude. The meeting also did not have the same fanfare as the summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska, which resulted in little concrete progress toward a peace deal.
Hours after Zelensky announced Friday that he planned to meet with Trump in the coming days, Russia launched a new wave of missile and drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital, in which two people were killed and dozens more injured.
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