Peace plan dilemma: When Ukraine says yes, Russia says no

Berlin: President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine expressed a tense and wary optimism on Tuesday about proposed guarantees for Ukraine's future security, so long as they were detailed and confirmed by the US Congress.

But what might make them acceptable to Ukraine, he suggested, would prompt Russia to reject them.Zelensky spoke after two days of peace proposal talks with US and European negotiators, who had emphasised progress Monday and promoted what they called a Nato-like security agreement. Zelensky acknowledged that the US had gone a long way to spelling out what kind of security guarantees it might offer Ukraine in any peace deal, but he added that significant details had still to be worked out.

Russia has not been involved in this round of negotiations.

"You and I are people of war, and during war we believe in facts," Zelensky said in an interview over social media with Ukrainian journalists early Tuesday. Those comments came as the Ukrainian president flew from Berlin after the talks, which took place with the Trump administration representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and with European officials.

Zelensky's comments, directed to his compatriots, were more cautious than his remarks in a news conference Monday evening with Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany. Then, Zelensky - as always - made a point of thanking President Trump and his envoys for trying to bring peace to Ukraine. The Ukrainian president has said that security guarantees from Europe and the US are a precondition for his country to make any territorial concessions, and the guarantees and territory lines have emerged as the two major sticking points in the talks.Zelensky described even that sort of trade as a "painful" compromise to which he has not yet agreed. President Putin of Russia has insisted that Ukraine give up the 14% or so of the Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, that Russia has not yet conquered, a demand that Trump officials have supported.US efforts to find some sort of solution, like turning the area into a demilitarized zone, have not convinced Zelensky. He argues that even if Ukrainian forces withdraw from the Donbas, Russian forces will not, and thus such an arrangement is unacceptable. "There was enough dialogue on the territory," Zelensky said on Monday. "And it seems to me that so far we have different positions, to be honest, but I think that my colleagues have heard my personal position.

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