The presence of foreign troops deployed in Ukraine would be a “real security guarantee” if the war with Russia ended, President Zelensky suggested on Monday as he said he was seeking a deal to ensure a peace that lasted for decades.
The Ukrainian leader said after meeting President Trump in Florida that the draft peace framework envisaged US security guarantees for his country for at least 15 years, but that he had asked Trump for up to 50 years.
“I told him [Trump] that we already have a war going on and it has been going on for almost 15 years. And so I really wanted the guarantees to be longer,” Zelensky told journalists. “I told him that we really want to consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years. The president said he would think about it.”
He added: “I believe that the presence of international troops is a real security guarantee. It is a strengthening of the security guarantees that our partners are already offering us.”
Trump, Zelensky and officials at Mar-a-Lago
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Zelensky also said that Kyiv would lift martial law after it received security guarantees from the West, which would involve monitoring and presence by partners and would probably come into effect as soon as there was an agreement on a plan to end the war.
“And the moment we receive them, it will be a signal to all of us that the war has ended,” he said. “Without security guarantees, this war cannot be considered truly over. We cannot acknowledge that it has ended, because with such a neighbour there remains a risk of renewed aggression.”
He outlined a step-by-step strategy to finalise a 20-point plan with partners, starting with a meeting of national security advisers from Ukraine, Europe and the US in the coming days.
Advisers would then prepare documents that would be finalised during a meeting between Ukrainian and European leaders, including members of the “coalition of the willing” and others, followed by a meeting between Trump and European leaders. Ukraine hopes these meetings will take place next month.
After that, the strategy involves a meeting with Russia. When asked by reporters if there was to be a direct meeting with President Putin, Zelensky responded that “regarding how to meet, in what format to negotiate, it doesn’t matter to us — we are ready”.
Russian war propaganda has been installed outside the US embassy in Moscow. The “Z” symbol is a pro-war insignia
ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
However, Zelensky accused Putin of actions that do not align with his words, telling Trump that he wanted to end the war while telling Russian media that he was ready and willing to continue.
“I’ll be frank, it looks a bit strange,” Zelensky told reporters, adding that “what matters is that the actions and words of the Russian leader align”.
A final version of the 20-point plan, refined by Europe and Ukraine from an earlier US-backed 28-point plan that was heavily criticised for containing maximalist demands from Russia, is “coming very close”, according to the Ukrainian president, with security guarantees “100 per cent ready” aside from details on their duration.
However, the draft is only “90 per cent ready” overall, due to two key sticking points: who will operate the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and potential territorial concessions.
On the thorny topic of a withdrawal from areas of the eastern Donbas region that are not occupied by Russia, Zelensky said that there was no detailed concept yet of a proposed “free economic zone”, but that it would be discussed.
Putin has demanded the entirety of the Donbas, the coal-mining region of eastern Ukraine that Russia has failed to capture in more than a decade of war, as part of any peace deal. The parts of the region still unconquered by Russia are among the most heavily defended areas of the front line and ceding the territory could leave Ukraine vulnerable to further attacks.
The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine should withdraw its troops from the part of Donbas that it still controlled, adding that a call between Putin and Trump would take place very soon.
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Putin added that Russia was continuing with its plan to capture regions including the Donbas. Russia has continued a slow advance in Ukraine as peace negotiations have continued. Putin said during a televised meeting on Monday that the Southern Group of Forces have strong momentum in Donbas and could take the whole area, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
“The liberation of Seversk and the effective work in Konstantinovka allow troops … in co-operation with the west and centre forces, to completely liberate the territory of Donbas,” he said, using the Russian names for Siversk and Kostiantynivka.
A resident of Kyiv inspects the damage to her flat after a Russian strike on Saturday
ELISE BLANCHARD/GETTY IMAGES
“The goal of liberating the Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions is being carried out in stages, in accordance with the plan of the special military operation … The troops are confidently advancing.”
Russia’s General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, added that Moscow’s forces were advancing in Ukraine along the entire front line.
Last week, the embattled eastern town of Siversk fell to Russian forces after Ukrainian troops withdrew, while fighting is now intensifying further south towards Kostiantynivka. The developments have added pressure to the talks.
Gerasimov claimed that Russian forces had captured 2,494 square miles of territory in Ukraine this year, including 334 villages.
Trump had earlier said there are the “makings of a deal” to end the war after meeting Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump leaves his golf club in Palm Beach on Saturday
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The US president said he thought Putin was serious about peace after speaking to the Russian leader shortly before his meeting with Zelensky. “I do believe that we have the makings of a deal that’s good for Ukraine, good for everybody,” he said.
In a significant compromise, Zelensky left open the possibility that Ukraine could surrender territory in the Donbas provided Russia agreed to a ceasefire. Zelensky said Ukraine needed a ceasefire to stage a referendum on any peace deal.
However, in a phone call with Trump lasting two and a half hours, Putin rejected this. Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Trump agreed with Putin that a temporary ceasefire would result only in the “prolongation of the conflict”. Ushakov said the two sides had also agreed to continue negotiations on peace in Ukraine and US-Russian economic co-operation.
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When asked whether he thought Putin was serious about peace, Trump said on Sunday: “I do, I do. I think he is. I think they both are.” He added: “I think both presidents want to make a deal.”
He also appeared to justify Moscow’s recent attacks by saying that Ukraine was also striking targets in Russia. “I believe Ukraine has made some very strong attacks also. I don’t say that negatively, they probably have to,” Trump said.
In a press conference after the meeting on Sunday, Zelensky and Trump both identified the future of the Donbas as the main sticking point.
Zelensky reiterated his view that any deal surrendering land in Donbas would need democratic approval from either a parliamentary vote or a referendum.
“If the plan will be very difficult for our society, of course our society has to vote. Because it’s our land. For a lot of generations,” the Ukrainian president said.
Trump acknowledged the need for Zelensky to have a democratic mandate but said Putin would not agree to a ceasefire and appeared to favour the Russian leader’s position.
“He feels that, look they’re fighting, and to stop and then if they have to start again, which is a possibility, he doesn’t want to be in that position. I understand that position,” Trump said.
Trump also suggested Russia would soon capture the territory in Donbas not controlled by Russia and urged Ukraine to accept a deal.
“Some of that land has been taken. Some of that land is maybe up for grabs. It may be taken over the next months,” he said.