President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the United States wants to end Russiaʼs war against Ukraine by June of this year.
The president said this during a meeting with journalists, Suspilne reports.
This proposal from the American side was made during trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on February 4-5.
According to Zelensky, the Americans will likely put pressure on Russia and Ukraine in the upcoming negotiations according to this schedule, because then they will have another priority — the US Congressional by-elections.
"And they say they want to do everything by June. And they will do everything to ensure that the war ends. And they want a clear schedule of all events," Zelensky added.
He also said that in Abu Dhabi, the United States first proposed to the negotiating teams of Ukraine and Russia to meet in Miami in a week — Ukraine confirmed its participation.
The President also announced that following the negotiations in the UAE, prisoner exchanges would continue.
In addition, the US has proposed another de-escalation of energy strikes. Ukraine has agreed, but Russia has not yet.
What is known about the talks in Abu Dhabi
The first trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi took place on January 23–24. The main topic was the possible terms of ending the war.
The parties later agreed to continue consultations in Abu Dhabi on February 4-5. Prior to this, Politico, citing sources, wrote that the Russians had become more serious about negotiations to end the Russian-Ukrainian war. The sources attribute these changes to the renewal of the Ukrainian negotiating team after the dismissal of Andriy Yermak.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov called the second round of talks “constructive”. In particular, the parties discussed “methods for implementing a ceasefire and monitoring the cessation of hostilities”.
The US side was represented at the consultations by Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Josh Gruenbaum, Daniel Driscoll and Alex Grinkevich. The Russian side was represented at a “high military level”.
On the Ukrainian side, in addition to Umerov, the negotiations were attended by the head of the Presidentʼs Office Kyrylo Budanov and his first deputy Serhiy Kyslytsia, the head of the "Servant of the People" faction Davyd Arakhamia, the Chief of the General Staff Andriy Hnatov, the deputy head of GUR of the Ministry of Defense Vadym Skibitsky, and the advisor to the head of the Presidentʼs Office Oleksandr Bevz.
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