“Peace is not far away”: talks about a ceasefire in Ukraine

Continuation of ceasefire talks in Ukraine

The Ukrainian president will also be in Berlin on Monday Wolodimir Selenskij expected. German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius announced on Friday that Chancellor Friedrich Merz Zelensky will initially be welcomed for German-Ukrainian economic talks.

This will be followed by a meeting between European heads of government and Zelenskyj in the Chancellery at Merz’s invitation, in which representatives from the EU and NATO will also take part. It was still unclear on Saturday whether representatives of the USA would take part in the deliberations on Monday evening in the Chancellery.

The place and time of the consultations are secret

It was initially unclear who exactly from the Ukrainian side would take part in the deliberations on Sunday in Berlin. Most recently, Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, spoke with the Ukrainians for several days in Florida. On the Kiev side, ex-Defense Minister Rustem Umjerov and Chief of General Staff Andriy Hnatov led the negotiations at the time. Witkoff and Kushner had previously spoken for hours with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

A high-ranking US official told the dpa in Washington that Witkoff would meet with Zelensky and European representatives in Berlin. The US government representative did not provide any further details on the exact timing of Witkoff’s talks, nor on the format and participants.

Trump is putting pressure on Ukraine

The US government had, at the instigation of President Donald Trump presented a peace plan in November, which has been negotiated in various rounds since then. Trump is putting pressure on Ukraine to agree to a peace agreement. He sees the country, which is dependent on Western support, at a military disadvantage compared to the aggressor Russia. Trump recently left open a promise from the USA for a meeting in Europe and linked it to the fact that, in his view, there must be good opportunities for progress.

Meanwhile, Putin is largely sticking to his maximum demands, such as the cession of territory by the Ukrainians, and is not willing to engage in concrete negotiations with the Ukrainian president without Zelensky’s concession.

Ukraine ties territorial cessions to security guarantees

Meanwhile, Ukraine and its European allies linked possible talks about Ukrainian territorial cessions to security guarantees from the USA. The Europeans expected a kind of guarantee of assistance from Washington, similar to Article 5 of the alliance treaty, with which the NATO countries guarantee support in the event of an attack, it was said from the French presidential palace. “It needs full transparency on the security guarantees of the Europeans and the Americans before any adjustments are made on disputed territorial issues,” the Elysée Palace continued.

Ukraine’s NATO ambassador, Alyona Hetmanschuk, also insisted that her country be promised legally binding security guarantees against another Russian attack. This is a “prerequisite for the conclusion of the agreement,” said Hetmanschuk.

Ukraine joining the EU? “Needs will to expand”

Such guarantees would have to be close to the mutual assistance clause in Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. In addition, they must be contained in a “legally binding” document, said Hetmanschuk. This could be a contract with the USA and “possibly with a number of European states”.

Negotiating circles also said on Friday that, according to the draft peace plan Ukraine’s accession to the EU is planned for January 2027. “It’s fixed, but it’s a matter of negotiation and the Americans are in favor of it,” said a senior negotiator official. In Brussels, however, rapid EU accession is considered unlikely. “2027, that’s tomorrow,” said an EU representative.

The EU accession process is usually very lengthy. EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos believes Ukraine’s accession is not possible until 2030 at the earliest. “As if the Americans would decide for us!” said a European diplomat. “That’s nonsense: it takes one Willingness to expand and it doesn’t exist.”

Erdogan: “Peace is not far off”

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted to talk to Trump about a peace plan for Ukraine after a meeting with Kremlin leader Putin. “The Peace is not far away”Erdogan told reporters on his flight back from Turkmenistan, where he met with Putin on Friday. His office released the comments on Saturday.