An interview express. Volodymyr Zelensky met Donald Trump on Saturday, April 26, in Rome outside the Pope’s funeral, when the US president exerted pressure on a high fire between Ukraine and Russia, and kyiv is afraid of being fired by Washington.
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“The meeting took place and is over,” journalists told the Ukranian president Serguii Nykyforov, without providing more details.
“President Trump and President Zelensky met privately today and had a very productive discussion. They will follow more details about the meeting,” said Steven Cheung, communication director of the White House.
“Near an agreement”
Dozens of heads of state or government and high responsibility people converged in Rome on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis, opening the opportunity to multiple diplomatic meetings.
Donald Trump said on Saturday night to Saturday that Russia and Ukraine were “very close to an agreement”, without revealing the scheme, while his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, with whom he has begun a sensitive approach for several months, mentioned the “possibility” of “direct negotiations” between Moscow and Kyiv.
There have been no direct negotiations between the two belligerents to discuss a cessation of conflicts from which they failed in 2022 following the Russian invasion.
Russian-American dialogue
The American emissary Steve Witkoff, an American interlocutor of Kremlin, met Vladimir Putin on Friday, for the fourth time since the rebirth of relations between the two powers at the initiative of the US president and several Russian officials said that the Russian-American dialogue is progressing positive.
In addition to this approach, Donald Trump, whose teams negotiate separately with the Ukrainians, has multiplied criticism against Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing Ukraine of being an obstacle at the end of the war, and placing the Ukrainian president under a very strong pressure since he has a vital need for US military support to resist the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Donald Trump, who said during his electoral campaign that he could quickly end the war, seems to want to force Volodymyr Zelensky to begin a conflict agreement process, but kyiv fears that his American protector forces him to accept too favorable conditions for Kremlin, either in possible territorial concessions or security guarantees.
“Russia will keep Crimea”
The US President assured Time magazine, in an interview broadcast on Friday night, which Russia would retain Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula that attached in 2014 and whose recognition as Russian territory is mentioned, according to the media, in the US proposal.
“Russia will keep Crimea. And Zelensky understands that,” insists the US president in time on this strategic peninsula that gives access to the black Sea that Russia attached in 2014.
But the Ukrainian President refuted this idea: “Our position remains unchanged (…) All temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine,” Volodymyr Zelensky said to journalists.
Donald Trump has also made Ukraine again the responsibility of the conflict, considering that “what began the war is when they (the Ukrainians, the editor’s note) began talking about joining NATO”, de facto assuming the elements of language spread by Russia for years.
“Temporary solution”
It is the Russian army that invaded the Ukrainian territory on a large scale in February 2022, triggering an unprecedented conflict in Europe for decades. The possible territorial concessions that would be required of kyiv in the context of US projects are very divisive in Ukraine, a country whose Russia now controls about 20% of the area.
“One of the scenarios (…) would be to leave the territories. It is unfair, but for peace, a temporary peace, perhaps it is a solution, temporary,” said kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, to the BBC on Friday.
In addition to this diplomatic effervescence, Russia continues to launch massive attacks against Ukraine, to mark the military ascendant that he has gradually established himself for months. During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, a missile and drones volley hit Kyiv, killing at least 12 people and dozens wounded.
Trump hardens the tone
This Russian murderer bombing pushed Donald Trump to adopt a less conciliatory tone with Vladimir Putin: “Vladimir, stops!”, He was bothered, “not happy”, in social truth.
He also assured that Washington exerted “strong pressure” on Moscow to end the conflict, judging that Russia would make “a fairly large concession” when agreeing not to seize all Ukraine.
kyiv and his European allies accuse Russia of prolonging conversations with the design always presenting the maximalist requirements: the control of the five Ukrainian regions whose annexation affirms, the resignation of Ukraine to join the Atlantic alliance and its demilitarization.
Ukraine wants solid military security guarantees of its western allies to deter Moscow again after the conclusion of a possible fire.
Source: BFM TV
