Ukraine is expressing cautious optimism about the latest round of negotiations between the White House and Kremlin to end the Russian invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office directly addressed the ongoing talks for the first time on Thursday, breaking days of silence from Kyiv on whether Ukraine supports the White House’s current efforts.
“The President of Ukraine has officially received from the American side a draft plan that, according to the assessment of the American side, could activate diplomacy,” Zelensky’s office announced, noting that the president has “agreed to work on the points of the plan in such a way that it would lead to a worthy end to the war.”
“Ukraine has supported President Trump’s proposals since the beginning of this year to end the bloodshed,” the statement added. “We are ready even now to work constructively with the American side and our partners in Europe and the world so that the result is peace.”
Zelensky now expects to speak with Trump in the “coming days” to go over “existing diplomatic opportunities and the main points that are needed for peace.”
“Only President Trump and the United States have sufficient power to make this war come to an end,” the Ukrainian president affirmed on social media Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump “has grown frustrated with both sides for their refusal to commit to a peace agreement.”
“Nevertheless, the president and his team never gives up, and the United States has been working on a detailed and acceptable plan for both sides to stop the killing and create a durable, lasting peace,” Leavitt said.
The tone of Zelensky’s Friday message marks a significant change from previous statements from Ukrainian officials who cast doubt on the idea that Russia will walk back any of its most aggressive demands — such as major territory cessations and military cuts.
“We put a lot of hope on the American side because we actually have the president of the United States, who made a personal commitment to stop this war […] But with the Russian side, we are not optimistic at all,” a Ukrainian official told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s “bottom line” demands for diplomatic negotiations are a frontline freeze and security guarantees provided by the Coalition of the Willing, an alliance of European powers backing the Ukrainian war effort.
European nations are increasingly uncomfortable with the United States’s latest negotiations, fearing the White House will cede too much to the Kremlin for peace.
The U.S. has full control over the ongoing talks with Moscow, having initiated the resumption of negotiation without coordination from allies such as France or Germany — frustrating the European Union.
“Of course, for any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board,” Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told reporters on Thursday in Brussels.
Ukraine supporters fear that the White House will cede too much to the Kremlin in the negotiations.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot echoed Ukrainian priorities to reporters in Brussels on Thursday, saying negotiations “must start with a ceasefire along the front line, which will allow negotiations on territorial and security matters to begin.”
“We want a just peace that respects everyone’s sovereignty, a durable peace that cannot be challenged by future aggression,” Barrot said. “But peace cannot be capitulation. We do not want the capitulation of Ukraine.”
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Mykhailo Podolyak, a close adviser to Zelensky, voiced exasperation with Russian demands earlier this week, accusing the Kremlin of not truly “offering a diplomatic settlement.”
“In the Kremlin’s imagination, after four years of bloody war, Ukraine is supposed to disarm its military down to the level of a police force, abandon missiles and drones, hand over its information space to Russian propaganda and cultural trash. In other words, we are being asked to turn ourselves into a vassal.”
U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is currently visiting Ukraine as part of the negotiation efforts — a development that Ukrainians see as a “good sign” that U.S. leaders are thoroughly examining both the military and political aspects of the conflict.