KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The United States is offering security guarantees to Ukraine for a period of 15 years as part of a proposed peace plan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, although he said he would prefer an American commitment of up to 50 years to deter Russia from further attempts to seize its neighbor’s land by force.
US President Donald Trump hosted Zelenskyy at his Florida resort on Sunday and insisted that Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever” to a peace deal.
Negotiators are still seeking a breakthrough on key issues, however, including where their forces will withdraw from and the fate of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the world’s 10 largest. Trump noted that the negotiations led by the United States for months could still collapse.
“Without security guarantees, realistically, this war will not end,” Zelenskyy told reporters in voice messages that responded to questions sent through a Whatsapp chat.
Ukraine has been fighting Russia since 2014, when it illegally annexed Crimea and Moscow-backed separatists took up arms in Donbas, a vital industrial region in eastern Ukraine.
Details of the security guarantees have not been made public but Zelenskyy said Monday that they include how a peace agreement would be monitored as well as the “presence” of the partners. He did not elaborate, but Russia said that it will not accept the deployment in Ukraine of troops from NATO countries.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump were expected to speak in the near future but there was no indication that the Russian leader would speak to Zelenskyy.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that Kiev’s allies will meet in Paris in early January to “finalize the concrete contributions of each country” for security guarantees.
Trump said he would consider extending US security guarantees to Ukraine for more than 15 years, according to Zelenskyy. The guarantees would be approved by the American Congress as well as by the parliaments in other countries involved in overseeing any solution, he said.
Zelenskyy said he wants the 20-point peace plan being discussed to be approved by Ukrainians in a national referendum.
However, holding a vote requires a ceasefire of at least 60 days, and Moscow has shown no willingness for a truce without a full settlement.
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