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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said it is a “big mistake” that European leaders are “practically not present at the table” in ongoing US-brokered negotiations to end the war with Russia.
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In a keynote speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Zelenskyy said Kyiv is working to ensure that Europe’s “interests and voice are taken into account,” arguing that any sustainable peace must reflect the security concerns of the entire continent, not just Ukraine and the United States.
His remarks echoed comments by French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday who suggested Europe will have to redesign the continent’s security architecture independently facing an aggressive Russia on a “sugar high” from war.
Ukraine will hold another round of trilateral talks with the US and Russia next week. The process started in February last year after Washington renewed contact with Moscow, still little progress has been achieved in ending hostilities with no ceasefire in place.
Zelenskyy told the conference he hopes that the upcoming round of negotiations will be “serious, substantive, helpful for all of us” but voiced frustration over how the different parties appear to often be “talking about completely different things.”
Russian officials, he said, invoke what they call the “spirit of Anchorage”, referring to the bilateral meeting Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held in the Alaskan city last summer, in which the Russia leader said the “historical origins” of the war would have to be addressed in any peace deal. Ukraine, Zelenskyy said, can only guess at its meaning.
The Ukrainian leader also expressed concern that discussions of “concessions” frequently focus on Ukraine alone, without asking for equal compromises from Russia.
“Too often those concessions are discussed in the context only of Ukraine, not Russia,” he added, suggesting that it risks rewarding aggression rather than deterring it. Europe’s absence from key conversations, he added, compounds that imbalance.
Central to Kyiv’s position is a demand for binding security guarantees before any agreement to end the war is signed. European countries, under the Coalition of the Willing format, are expected to shoulder most of the burden on security guarantees, but an American backstop is seen as essential by both Ukraine and the Europeans.
“Peace can only be built on clear, clear security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said. “Where there is no clear security system, war always returns.”
Ukraine, he said, has prepared detailed proposals and is ready to sign agreements on security guarantees with both the United States and European partners, and that he remains “in constant contact” with US envoys, including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Zelenskyy also said he expects to see a precise date for Ukraine’s accession to join the EU as part of a peace deal. Earlier, he suggested that date could “technically” be 2027.
Ukraine to hold elections only if it can get a ceasefire
Addressing calls for elections in Ukraine, a demand pushed by Trump, Zelenskyy said he would be open to holding elections if a genuine ceasefire is put in place. Under the threat of bombs, he insisted, Ukraine cannot hold a fair election.
“Give us two months of ceasefire, we will go to elections,” he said, noting the logistical challenge of enabling soldiers on the front lines to cast ballots.
In a jibe at Moscow, Zelenskyy said he would be happy to hold a ceasefire in order for free elections to be held in Russia, where Putin has been in office for two decades.
The Ukrainian leader called on partners to step up measures to ensure the Kremlin’s energy revenues run dry. Oil and gas provide the bulk of the financing for Russia’s war effort, despite numerous sanctions as a result of circumvention and third countries.
“Russian oil tankers still move freely – freely along Europe’s shores, in the Baltic Sea, in the North Sea,” he said. “In total, Russia still uses more than 1,000 tankers. Each of them is, in fact, a floating wallet for the Kremlin.”
Zelenskyy said he had recently discussed sanctions with French President Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, pushing for Russian tankers at sea to not only be detained but fully blocked and confiscated. The EU is preparing a new sanctions packaged to be unveiled this month as the war enters another year.
“Without oil money, Putin would not have money for this war,” Zelenskyy said.
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