By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The US has offered Ukraine “solid” security guarantees for 15 years with a possibility of an extension, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday after meeting Donald Trump, but added that Kyiv is seeking a longer period.
Zelensky held talks with Trump in Florida, where the US leader said a deal to end almost four years of war with Russia was closer than ever.
The Ukrainian leader said the issue of territory and the future of Ukraine’s Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were the remaining unresolved parts of a plan to end the war.
He added that he considered the presence of international troops in Ukraine a necessary part of the guarantees, which Russia has rejected in the past.
Still, the Kremlin agreed with Trump’s assessment that talks were in their final stages, while repeating its maximalist demand for Kyiv to withdraw from eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv was hoping for a meeting with European and American officials in Ukraine in the “coming days” to work on documents to end the conflict, Zelensky said.
Any deal to end Europe’s worst conflict since WWII “must be signed by Ukraine, Russia, the US and Europe”, he said.
Security guarantees were a priority for Kyiv. “Without security guarantees, this war cannot be considered truly over. We cannot acknowledge that it has ended, because with such a neighbour there remains a risk of renewed aggression,” Zelensky said.
He had told Trump the 15-year offer was too short a period for Kyiv.
“I told him that we really want to consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years,” he added. “The president said he would think about it.”
