Ukraine’s Zelensky says progress in US-led peace talks ‘quite solid’

Initial drafts of US proposals for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia meet many of Kyiv’s demands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

But he suggested that neither side in the almost four-year war is likely to get everything it wants in talks on reaching a settlement.

“Overall, it looks quite solid at this stage,” the Ukrainian leader said of recent talks with US officials who are trying to steer the neighbouring countries toward compromises.

“There are some things we are probably not ready for, and I’m sure there are things the Russians are not ready for either,” Mr Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv.

US President Donald Trump has for months been pushing for a peace agreement.

However, the negotiations have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.

But US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday he held “productive and constructive” talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives.

Mr Zelensky said that “nearly 90%” of Ukraine’s demands have been incorporated into the draft agreements.

The backbone of the proposed deal is a 20-point plan, he said.

There is also a framework document on security guarantees between Ukraine, European countries, and the US, as well as a separate document on bilateral security guarantees granted to Ukraine by the US.

Several provisions are being discussed, according to Mr Zelensky.

They include the Ukrainian army remaining at a peacetime level of 800,000; membership in the European Union; and European forces, under the leadership of France and the UK and with a “backstop” from Washington, ensuring “Ukraine’s security in the air, on land, and at sea”.

“Some key countries will provide presence in these domains; others will contribute to energy security, finance, bomb shelters, and so on,” the Ukrainian president said.

Ukraine is arguing that this bilateral document should be reviewed by the US congress, with some details and annexes kept classified, Mr Zelensky said.

The US team is now in talks with Russian envoys, and Washington has asked that no details be released, he added.

Mr Zelensky said on Monday he met with his military commanders who reported that defensive lines are holding firm against the Russian onslaught.

“In (recent) weeks, the Russian army has significantly increased the intensity of attacks, and the number of Russian losses has increased accordingly,” he said in a post on Telegram.

Ukrainian forces hit an oil terminal, a pipeline, two parked jet fighters and two ships in a series of strikes on Russian soil, officials said on Monday.

The killing of a top Russian general by a car bomb in Moscow on Monday, with investigators suspecting Ukraine was behind it, could be another instance of Kyiv picking surprise targets.

Ukrainian partisans also set fire to two Russian jet fighters in an operation on Sunday evening at a base near Lipetsk, a city in western Russia, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said only that its forces shot down 41 Ukrainian drones overnight, three of them over the Krasnodar region.