Media: Ukraine is negotiating with Trumpʼs team about settling the war

Representatives of the Office of the President (OP) of Ukraine and the future administration of the US President-elect Donald Trump met in Washington to discuss the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war and reduce differences in positions.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Reuters write about it.

The head of OP Andriy Yermak held meetings with Trumpʼs future special representative on the Russian-Ukrainian war Keith Kellogg and national security adviser Mark Waltz. Vice President-elect JD Vance joined the discussions.

Keith Kellogg and his team support the efforts of the Joe Biden administration to quickly transfer weapons to Ukraine, because they believe that this will give Trump leverage over Moscow in negotiations to settle the war. At the same time, Trumpʼs team has little interest in offering Ukraine NATO membership, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes is the most effective security guarantee.

At the beginning of the year, Keith Kellogg had a different position — he said that it was worth suspending the supply of American weapons to Ukraine in order to convince Kyiv to start peace talks with Russia.

According to sources, Yermak is visiting Washington to build relationships with Trump aides. And the other day, he met in Florida with the future chief of staff of the White House Susie Wiles. Sources say that Ukraine plans to announce its readiness for peace.

"But it must be a sustainable peace. An unstable, temporary peace does not serve the interests of the USA or Ukraine," said a person familiar with Kyivʼs position.

Volodymyr Zelensky assumed that the "hot phase" of the war with Russia will end when the unoccupied territories of Ukraine will be under NATO protection, while Ukraine will return the remaining territories through diplomatic channels. However, Kyiv did not officially receive such an offer.

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