During the upcoming negotiations, Ukraine will propose an energy and grain truce and an "all-for-all" exchange
Ukraine is ready to hold trilateral meetings at the technical working group level and expects to achieve concrete results during negotiations with Russia and the United States in November. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian side has already submitted its proposals on priority steps toward a settlement to its American partners during the talks in Norway.
“We are ready for trilateral negotiations among technical teams, which should yield concrete results. The Americans asked me, ‘What specific details do you want?’ I said, ‘Look, could the war end in November during the technical group meeting?’ It won’t happen at all without the leaders. Okay, if that’s not possible, then let’s have an energy ceasefire, maritime access, grain exports, a full prisoner exchange, or a meeting of the leaders. That, without a doubt, would be a result,” the President of Ukraine noted.
According to him, the areas of energy, civilian shipping, and the return of people are concrete steps, while a summit at the level of heads of state is an opportunity to formalize them. “This is what we’re asking for and proposing. We’re not demanding it—we’re proposing it to the American side. That would show seriousness. But if this is just a political ploy and Putin is simply saying, ‘Yes, I’m ready,’ because he doesn’t want an escalation with the U.S. before the election, then we’ll see very quickly in November whether it was a ploy or not,” Zelenskyy emphasized.
Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with TSN.
Zelenskyy also stated that preserving the army and rejecting neutrality remain matters of principle for Ukraine, and that its security guarantees cannot be dictated by the Russian side. At the same time, the issue of territories has been defined as a “red line” that Ukraine is prepared to discuss exclusively at the level of heads of state, while technical groups are to work out the details of security guarantees with the participation of the U.S. and Europe, which is to take place during the next round of negotiations.
However, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s statement agreeing to resume peace talks with Ukraine does not yet guarantee that they will actually take place. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that the results of any contacts must be assessed based on the outcomes of the meetings, not before they begin.
Earlier, Yury Ushakov, an aide to the Russian dictator, stated that negotiations on resolving the war in Ukraine are planned for the first half of November in Abu Dhabi in a trilateral format involving Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia.
