U.S. Offers Ukraine 15-year Security Guarantee As Part Of Peace Plan, Zelenskyy Says

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. offers Ukraine security guarantees Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that part of his proposed peace plan is valid for a period of 15 years, but he would prefer for America to make a commitment of up to 50 years to deter Russia from further peace initiatives. seize one’s neighbor’s land hardly.

US President Donald Trump hosted Zelenskyy Speaking at his Florida resort on Sunday, he insisted Ukraine and Russia were “closer than ever” to a peace deal.

But negotiators are still seeking a breakthrough on key issues, including whose forces are withdrawing from Ukraine and the fate of the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine. Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plantOne of the 10 largest in the world. Trump noted that months-long US-led negotiations could still collapse.

“Without security guarantees, realistically, this war will not end,” Zelenskyy said in a voicemail response to questions sent to journalists via WhatsApp chat.

Ukraine has been at war with Russia since 2014, when it illegally annexed Crimea and Moscow-backed separatists took up arms in Donbas, a vital industrial region of eastern Ukraine.

Details of the security guarantees have not been made public, but Zelenskyy said on Monday that they include how the peace deal will be monitored, as well as the “presence” of partners. He did not provide detailed information on the issue, but Russia said that it would not accept the deployment of soldiers from NATO countries to Ukraine.

Indications are that negotiations could come to a head in January, ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin On Monday, Russian troops allegedly advanced in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and also continued their offensive in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

As Ukrainian forces struggled to hold back the massive Russian army, Putin sought to portray himself as negotiating from a position of strength.

He also emphasized the need to establish military buffer zones along the Russian border in his meeting with senior officers. “This is a very important task because it ensures the security of Russia’s border regions,” Putin said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Putin and Trump are expected to meet in the near future, but there is no indication that the Russian leader will meet with Zelenskyy.

French President Emmanuel Macron He said Kiev’s allies would meet in Paris in early January to finalize each country’s concrete contributions to security guarantees.

According to Zelenskyy, Trump said he would consider extending US security guarantees to Ukraine beyond 15 years. He said the guarantees would be approved by the U.S. Congress as well as the parliaments of other countries that oversee any solution.

Zelenskyy said that he wanted the 20-point peace plan discussed to be approved by Ukrainians in a national referendum.

However, a ceasefire of at least 60 days is required before the vote can be held, and Moscow has not shown any willingness for a ceasefire without a full solution.

On the snowy streets of Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, people doubted the possibility of peace.

A military veteran who uses the call sign Sensei in accordance with Ukrainian army rules said Putin’s history in power shows he cannot be trusted. Sensei joined the army in 2022 and was wounded in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut that year. He said that almost no one from his company was alive anymore.

“But all these sacrifices are not in vain, because we need to prove that we exist, that we exist, that we have the right to our existence, our land, our culture, our language,” the 65-year-old told The Associated Press.

Denys Shpylovyi, a 20-year-old student who was home for the holidays, said Trump’s willingness to accept Putin’s claims put Zelenskyy in a difficult situation.

“But I’m grateful for some progress. They’re talking and maybe one day there will be hope,” he said.

Ukrainian political scientist Oleh Saakian said it was a good sign that Zelenskyy had managed to establish a relationship with Trump, but noted that “nothing has been agreed yet, nothing has been signed yet.”

“I don’t think these negotiations bring us any closer to real peace, because they are based on equality between aggressor and victim, they completely disregard international law and … disregard the security of Europe,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine launched an overnight attack on Putin’s residence in the northwestern Novgorod region using 91 long-range drones from Sunday to Monday.

Zelennskyy said the claim was “another lie” and emerged because Moscow was discouraged by progress in peace efforts.

Lavrov said that all UAVs were destroyed and there was no loss of life or damage. He did not say whether Putin was at home at the time. He said Russia had already determined the “time and possibilities” of a retaliatory strike but did not provide details.

Associated Press journalists Vasilisa Stepanenko and Volodymr Yurchuk in Kiev, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

You can follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine