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Donald Trump has said that he and Vladimir Putin have agreed to begin negotiations to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, later adding that it was unlikely Kyiv would win back all its territory or join NATO if a deal is to be reached.<\/p>\n
Trump said that he was \u201cOK\u201d with Ukraine not having NATO membership and that it was \u201cunlikely\u201d that Ukraine would take much land back in the negotiations.<\/p>\n
Russia \u201ctook a lot of land, and they fought for that land and they lost a lot of soldiers\u201d, he told reporters later in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n
Trump said he was not closely concerned with which territories were handed over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just here to try and get peace,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t care so much about anything other than I want to stop having millions of people killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rapid entry into negotiations with Russia and open demands that Ukraine concede land will have set alarm bells ringing in Kyiv and among its European allies that the Trump administration will offer minimal resistance to Putin\u2019s demands in order to cut a deal as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
In a social media post, Trump said he held a \u201clengthy and highly productive phone call\u201d with Putin and that they agreed to \u201chave our respective teams start negotiations immediately\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said that he and Putin had agreed to visit each other\u2019s countries, later telling reporters that their first meeting would take place in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia\/Ukraine,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social. \u201cPresident Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, \u2018COMMON SENSE.\u2019 We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other\u2019s Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kremlin confirmed the call and the mutual invitations for the leaders to visit each other\u2019s countries in what would be the first visits by an American president to Russia since 2009 and the first by Putin to the US since 2015.<\/p>\n
In its readout, the Kremlin also maintained a maximalist position, with Putin saying he \u201cmentioned the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peaceful negotiations\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy \u2013 at least in public \u2013 offered support for the talks on Wednesday, saying he and Trump had held a \u201cmeaningful\u201d conversation by phone. \u201cNo one wants peace more than Ukraine,\u201d he wrote. \u201cTogether with the US, we are charting our next steps to stop Russian aggression and ensure a lasting, reliable peace. As President Trump said, let\u2019s get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump told reporters that the US would seek to \u201csecure\u201d future military aid against Ukrainian rare earth minerals and other natural resources.<\/p>\n
Trump said he was not concerned about freezing out Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the talks, saying: \u201cI don\u2019t think so as long as he\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, he said, \u201csometime [Ukraine\u2019s] going to have to have elections too \u2026 His poll numbers aren\u2019t particularly great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump said Zelenskyy would meet on Friday with the vice-president, JD Vance, and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on the sidelines of the Munich security conference.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Wednesday, the US negotiating position was outlined in Brussels, where secretary of defence Pete Hegseth delivered public remarks that Kyiv must acknowledge that it cannot win back all the land occupied by Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine\u2019s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,\u201d Hegseth said, sketching out an initial position for any peace negotiations with Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cChasing this illusory goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,\u201d he added, though this could be interpreted as in effect acknowledging the annexation of Crimea, and large parts of the Donbas, by Russia.<\/p>\n
Kyiv would only achieve peace through \u201crobust security guarantees\u201d, but Hegseth ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine. Instead, peace would have to be secured by \u201ccapable European and non-European troops\u201d, who he stressed would not come from the US.<\/p>\n
Any British or European troops deployed in Ukraine would not be covered by part of a NATO mission or covered by the alliance\u2019s Article 5 guarantee, Hegseth added, meaning they would in effect be reliant on help from participating states.<\/p>\n
Though Hegseth set out some positions for achieving peace in Ukraine, few experts believe there has been any serious diplomatic progress. Russia, which has been gaining ground on the battlefield, remains keen to press home its advantage and has demanded that Ukraine cede further territory and in effect be demilitarized as part of a deal.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s demands could mirror those made on the eve of its full-scale invasion in 2021: that Ukraine adopt a neutral status and that NATO cease deploying weapons to member states that joined after 1997, when the alliance began accepting former communist nations. That includes much of eastern Europe, including Poland and the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.<\/p>\n
In December, Putin also stated that he would insist on Ukraine adopting a neutral status and implementing some degree of demilitarization, while also demanding that the West lift its sanctions on Russia.<\/p>\n
Kyiv has rejected those demands in the past and the Biden administration had said that it would be up to Ukraine to decide when to hold peace talks.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Zelenskyy told the Guardian that Europe was not able to offer resilient security guarantees to Kyiv without the involvement of the US. \u201cSecurity guarantees without America are not real,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A multinational deterrence force based in Ukraine after a ceasefire would need to be 100,000 to 150,000 strong, Zelenskyy said, though that would be far smaller than the 600,000-plus Russian troops in occupied Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cEurope cannot field a force like this right now,\u201d one senior European diplomat told the Guardian. \u201cBut we cannot force the US [to commit troops]. So we must accept this and figure out what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another senior European diplomat called the US position outlined by Hegseth a premature surrender, asking what there would be left to negotiate. The person also said that the readiness to offer concessions from Ukraine would encourage Russia to demand more in the upcoming negotiations.<\/p>\n
In his readout of their call, Zelenskyy also suggested that Ukraine was reviewing a deal with the US regarding a new \u201csecurity, economic cooperation, and resource partnership\u201d. That followed a meeting between Zelenskyy and the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, who had visited Kyiv to discuss US access to rare earth minerals, energy resources and energy assets, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n
The US has suggested that it would seek access to rare earth minerals, which are strategic metals essential for industries developing computers, batteries and cutting-edge energy technology in exchange for providing military aid to Ukraine in the future.<\/p>\n
The rapid developments have worried Europe that Putin and Trump appear to be negotiating the future of the continent\u2019s security over the heads of the Europeans themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Europe is responsible for Ukraine\u2019s security and could even provide troops [under a ceasefire agreement], then we should have a seat at the table and be consulted with the Americans,\u201d said one European official. \u201cAnd we have not been consulted.\u201d<\/p>\n
European foreign ministers declared their support for Ukraine during a meeting of the country\u2019s allies in Paris on Wednesday. The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said that Ukraine\u2019s interests must be protected in the upcoming negotiations between Moscow and Washington. The French foreign minister, Jean No\u00ebl-Barrot, called for Europe\u2019s direct participation in the talks, saying that there \u201cwill be no just and lasting peace in Ukraine without the participation of Europeans\u201d.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the British foreign office expressed support for Trump\u2019s desire to bring the war to an end, but added: \u201cRussia could do this tomorrow by withdrawing its forces and ending its illegal invasion. We have always said we will support Ukraine to achieve a just and lasting peace. Our priority right now is to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s announcement followed a prisoner swap involving Marc Fogel, a US teacher who was arrested in Moscow on drug charges, and Alexander Vinnik, who was arrested in 2017 in Greece on cryptocurrency fraud charges and then extradited to the US.<\/p>\n
The deal was arranged by Steve Witkoff, Trump\u2019s envoy to the Middle East, one of the president\u2019s closest allies on the team that will lead negotiations with the Russians.<\/p>\n
The US negotiating team would include the secretary of state, Marco Rubio; the director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe; the national security adviser, Michael Waltz; and Witkoff.<\/p>\n
Notable for his absence from the negotiating team was Gen Keith Kellogg, whom Trump had earlier named his special envoy to Ukraine and Russia and who was in the process of meeting with European leaders to discuss the upcoming negotiations.<\/p>\n
Yet few were convinced he spoke directly for Trump, and he offered few concrete details beyond his \u201cdeep faith\u201d that Trump was the best person to negotiate the deal, one official said.<\/p>\n
(Source: Guardian)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n