“Ukraine is ready to negotiate to put an end to war with Russia,” a high -ranking advisor of President Volodyr Zelensky said in the morning on Tuesday, March 11 at the opening of American officials in Saudi Arabia. The Ukrainian head of state arrived in Jeddah on Monday to meet the Saudi leaders but leaves three of his senior officials to participate in the talks with Washington. “We are ready to do everything to achieve peace,” said the head of the Ukrainian presidential office Andriy Yermak, to journalists when entering the negotiation room. L’Express takes stock of these.
Why are these discussions crucial?
These discussions are the first at this level between Ukrainian and Americans officials since the disastrous visit of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House at the end of February. His trip had given rise to a spectacular verbal game with Donald Trump and his vice-president in the oval office, in front of the press and the whole world.
The United States has since suspended its military aid in kyiv as well as its information sharing, a resounding consequence of the transformation of relations between the United States and Ukraine since the return of Donald Trump to the White House in January.
With these talks, Ukraine hopes to regain American military support and in terms of intelligence. “The objective of any negotiation between the Ukrainian and American authorities in Saudi Arabia will be, in particular, to agree on a resumption of assistance,” said Fedir Venislavskiy, a Ukrainian deputy for Volodymyr Zelensky last week, as reported by the Financial Times.
What are the Ukrainian proposals?
During this meeting, Ukraine will exhibit in the United States a plan for a partial ceasefire with Russia. The proposal, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Monday under cover of anonymity, is that of a “truce in the air” and “at sea” with Moscow. “It is the cease-fire options that are easy to set up and monitoring and it is possible to start with them,” he added.
THE Financial Times Specifies that, according to civil servants informed of the preparations for negotiations, this partial cease-fire with Russia would concern “long-range drone and missile strikes and combat operations in the Black Sea”.
The massive drone attack launched by Ukraine on Tuesday morning aims to “encourage” Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept an air truce, said before the start of talks Andriï Kovalenko, spokesperson for the Ukrainian government center against disinformation.
What are the United States asking for?
According to the American emissary for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, the talks must make it possible to “define a framework for a peace agreement and an initial cease-fire” between Russia and Ukraine. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio estimated that Ukraine should make concessions on the territories annexed by Russia since 2014. “The Russians cannot conquer all of Ukraine, and it will obviously be very difficult for Ukraine, in a reasonable time, to force the Russians to return to the level they were in 2014”, he said on Monday when he arrived in the Saudi city Jeddah, quoted by the American daily New York Times. He also said that he was hopeful that the suspension of American military aid in kyiv be resolved, and estimated that the idea of a partial cease-fire was promising: “I am not saying that it alone will be sufficient, but it is the kind of concession necessary in order to put an end to the conflict,” he told journalists shortly before his arrival.
Although the American president has multiplied the spikes against Voludymyr Zelensky, accused of being a “dictator” or of not being grateful to Washington, the tone seems to have calmed down. Donald Trump, who started a spectacular rapprochement with Russia in parallel, said his Ukrainian counterpart was ready to negotiate, and even threatened new sanctions.
According to NBC News, however, US officials said on Sunday that the mineral agreement would not be enough for Donald Trump to resume American aid, and that in addition to any territorial concessions, he wanted Volodymyr Zelensky to organize elections in Ukraine, even that he resigns from his post as president.