FLASH
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Ukraine is ready to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, but it has its own conditions. That is the message Volodymyr Zelensky brought to European leaders gathered at an extraordinary Council in Brussels.
Before the meeting, Zelensky had held three other bilateral meetings, with French President Emmanuel Macron, new Austrian Chancellor Christian Stoker, and the new Belgian Prime Minister. The most important bilateral meeting, however, was with Macron, with whom he agreed to a meeting on March 11 “of military representatives of countries ready to make greater efforts to ensure reliable security in the context of ending this war,” Zelensky wrote in X.
This is the so-called coalition of those willing to make military personnel available in the future for a peacekeeping contingent, an idea initiated by Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which several European countries have already joined. “We have coordinated our positions and next steps,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on social media, adding that there is “a clear common and absolutely clear vision that real and lasting peace is possible with cooperation between Ukraine, all of Europe and the US.”
Zelensky's conditions
Zelensky focused his speech to the 27 heads of state and government on steps to achieve this lasting peace. “Ukraine is not only ready to take the necessary steps for peace, but also proposes the steps that need to be taken,” he said, after announcing the resumption of direct negotiations with Donald Trump’s United States, which had ended abruptly after a row in the White House.
For the Kiev leader, it is first and foremost necessary to ensure that Russia, "the sole cause of this war, accepts the need to end it." And this can be demonstrated with two "easy to implement and monitor" actions, which are first and foremost "stopping attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure," and accepting "a ceasefire for long-range missiles, bombs, and drones." Then the Ukrainian leader calls for a "water ceasefire, which means no military operations in the Black Sea."
Zelensky seeks a demonstration of Vladimir Putin's good faith and in his opinion "the release of prisoners can be a means of creating fundamental trust" and reiterates that for a "full and fair" resolution of the conflict "a comprehensive agreement on security guarantees is needed". And this is the most acute point to be resolved with Trump, and in which an agreement on the exploitation by the United States of part of Ukraine's rare earth deposits could be decisive.
Zelensky then urged his allies to stand by the fact that "any issue related to Ukraine's security must be resolved with Ukraine's participation," just as "any issue related to the security of all of Europe must be resolved with your participation."
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