KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said that Ukraine would not accept any bilateral agreement reached between the United States and Russia without Kyiv’s participation.
The Ukrainian leader made the remarks at the Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant, said Ukraine state news agency Ukrinform on Thursday.
The development comes a day after US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and announced the beginning of negotiations.
“We, as an independent country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us,” Zelensky told reporters. He called for Europe to have a seat at the table in negotiations to end the war.
Speaking about his conversation with Trump, Zelensky said it was an hour-long conversation during which Trump told him that Putin wants peace and wants to end the war.
“Today it’s important that everything does not go according to Putin’s plan, in which he wants to do everything to make his negotiations bilateral (with the US),” Zelensky said.
The phone call between Putin and the remarks from Trump’s defence secretary, who stated that Kyiv cannot join NATO has raised concerns in Europe that the White House may look to strike a deal with Russia without involving them.
Zelensky has been pushing for a meeting with Trump before the US president meets Putin, though Trump mentioned on Wednesday that he expected to meet Putin in the future.
While Ukraine is working on arranging a Zelensky-Trump meeting, no concrete plans have been announced yet. Zelensky clarified that NATO membership was not discussed during his phone call with Trump, although he acknowledged that the United States opposes the idea.
Russia seeks prompt Putin-Trump meeting
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that a face-to-face meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin needed to be organised “promptly” after the two presidents held a lengthy and productive phone call the day before.
Trump said the pair agreed to “immediately” start negotiations on the Ukraine conflict during the call, which marked the first direct presidential contact between Washington and Moscow in three years.
“There is definitely a need to organise such a meeting quite promptly, the heads of state have a lot to talk about,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Trump said Wednesday he expected to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia.
