Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is meeting in Berlin this weekend with United States special envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders ahead of the summit that will begin on Monday to try to advance the peace deal with Russia.
The aim is to find a negotiated solution to the war as Washington puts pressure on Ukraine to cede territory to Moscow in return for paving the way for it to join the European Union from 2027.
Ahead of the meeting, Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia “continues to aim to destroy Ukraine” after Kiev denounced “massive” Russian attacks that left thousands of people without electricity in various regions of the country. From Moscow, they admitted firing hypersonic missiles against Ukrainian facilities, which they described as retaliation for previous attacks.
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“It is important that everyone now sees what Russia is doing, every step it is taking to terrorize our people, because it is clear that this is not about ending the war. They continue to aim to destroy our state and inflict maximum pain on our people,” Zelensky said on his X account.
Witkoff’s message is being interpreted as a sign that Washington sees progress in negotiations to end the war.
The White House made clear this week that President Donald Trump would only authorize the participation of a US envoy if he believed sufficient progress was being made in the talks.
The meeting will again discuss the 28-point plan put forward by the US, which has been criticized for supporting Moscow’s main demands, including Ukraine’s cession of key territories.
Zelensky had claimed that Washington only wanted Ukraine, not Russia, to withdraw its troops from parts of the eastern Donetsk region, where a demilitarized “free economic zone” would be created.
On Friday it became known that the US plan envisages Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the European Union. A source with direct knowledge of the negotiations told AFP on condition of anonymity that accession could begin in January 2027.
The process of joining the bloc typically takes years and requires the unanimous vote of its 27 members. Some countries, such as Hungary, have repeatedly spoken out against the former Soviet republic’s accession.
However, Zelensky stressed that Trump has the influence needed to persuade reluctant leaders to change their stance.
Kiev has been fighting to join the EU for some time and has implemented a number of reforms in this regard since the pro-European revolution of 2014. But the country is still struggling to end endemic corruption, a prerequisite for EU membership.
From Moscow they expressed their distrust of US attempts to change the plan. “We have the impression that this version will get worse,” Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin’s foreign policy adviser, told a business newspaper on Friday.
Ushakov stressed that this is “a long process,” pointing out that Russia had already had access to an updated version of the plan last week during talks between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
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