By Daryna Krasnolutska | Bloomberg News
U.S. negotiators will join European leaders in Paris on Tuesday in the latest effort to hash out postwar security guarantees for Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
“The focus will be on security guarantees for Ukraine, and recovery. There will be also meetings with the team of President Trump,” Zelenskyy said, adding that the talks could last a day or two. Ukraine hopes to set up a meeting in the U.S. at the leaders’ level by the end of January, he added.
The White House hasn’t commented on U.S. participation in the upcoming Paris talks or on next steps to end Russia’s almost four-year invasion of its neighbor.
Zelenskyy spoke to reporters after Kyiv hosted national security advisers from its top allies for talks on security guarantees and economic support on Saturday.
More than a dozen NSAs from European countries, Canada, and the offices of the European Council, European Commission and NATO held talks focused on three tracks as part of the global effort to end Russia’s war in Ukraine — a basic peace framework, security guarantees, and economic reconstruction.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, attended the discussions online.
Zelenskyy earlier on Saturday said he plans to offer Denys Shmyhal, until this week Ukraine’s defense minister, the post of energy minister and first deputy prime minister.
More rotations of personnel in the defense and law enforcement segments are expected to continue in pursuit of an end to the war, Zelenskyy said.
For example, Friday’s appointment of former spy chief Kyrylo Budanov as chief of staff would strengthen the Ukrainian negotiation track, he said, adding that Sergiy Kyslytsya, a well respected and experienced diplomat who’s currently first deputy foreign minister, will be Budanov’s deputy.
Vasyl Maliuk, who leads Ukraine’s security service and earned his reputation for daring tactics like Operation Spiderweb, when Ukrainian drones destroyed Russian jets, will also be replaced soon, according to media reports.
$800 million
Speaking of the economic track at Saturday’s talks, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said Ukraine estimates a 10-year rebuilding effort toward sustainable growth would cost some $800 billion.
“We aim to mobilize these resources through public capital, grants and loans, as well as private investment in infrastructure, energy, industry, and human capital development,” she said on X.
Separately, lawmaker David Arakhamiya, the head of Zelenskyy’s party in Ukraine’s parliament, told reporters that Kyiv may finish drafting a referendum on peace proposals by the end of February.
Such a ballot should be held together with a presidential election to maximize turnout — but only once a ceasefire is in place, Arakhamiya told reporters. “Combining a presidential election with this referendum gives us hope that as many people as possible in Ukraine and abroad will vote,” he said.
The U.S. has pushed Ukraine to hold an election, postponed from 2024 because the country is under martial law. Zelenskyy said last month he expects Moscow to interfere with any vote, which faces hurdles from Ukrainians who’ve fled their homes internally or abroad, or who are in areas occupied by Russia.
Security guarantees are one of major points in the talks, with Kyiv and European allies saying a strong deterrent is needed to ensure that Russia doesn’t attack Ukraine again after a potential peace deal.
Zelenskyy, who’s also negotiating a bilateral security deal with the U.S., told reporters that he’s asked Trump for security guarantees that could stretch as long as half a century. Current proposals set out a 15-year term with the possibility for an extension.
Saturday’s talks in Kyiv follow a flurry of diplomatic activity as Trump looks to secure an end to the Russia’s war in Ukraine — a conflict he once pledged to halt on his first day back in office.
So far, Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t indicated any willingness to end the invasion, which Moscow conceived of as a “Special Military Operation” in 2022 to last days or weeks. Almost four years later, Putin is sticking to his maximalist demands, including for Ukrainian troops to withdraw from areas in the nation’s east which Russia has failed to seize by force over more than a decade.
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