KIEV/MOSCOW - Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukrainian officials will meet their US counterparts in Saudi Arabia next Monday, after the Kremlin con-firmed US-Russia talks there the same day.
The latest talks come as the US attempts to broker a ceasefire between the two nations after more than three years of war. The Ukrainian leader said Russia "must stop making unnecessary demands that only prolong the war". Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands include a complete end to Ukraine's allies providing military assistance.
Zelensky also warned that taking Nato membership for Ukraine off the table - something Moscow has demanded - would be a ‘big gift to Russia’. Both Zelensky and Putin have agreed to a ceasefire in principle during conversations with the US - but one has yet to materialise due to conflicting conditions. The Russian leader most recently agreed to a halt to air strikes on energy and rail infrastructure, as well as ports - but such strikes from both sides have continued.
Zelensky was in Oslo, Norway on Thursday, where he met Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Asked about comments by the White House touting the possible US ownership of Ukraine's nuclear power plants at a joint news conference, Zelensky ruled this out entirely. He said that he had not directly discussed ownership of the Zaporizhia power plant - which is currently under Russian control - in his phone call with US President Donald Trump last Wednesday, adding that "all nuclear power plants belong to the people of Ukraine". However, he said he was open to the US taking the plant from Russia to invest in or modernise.
Asked if he was ready to make territorial concessions to Russia, particularly Crimea, which has been in Russian hands since 2014, Zelensky said: "That is a Ukrainian peninsula," adding that Crimea was an "integral part" of his country. Crimea is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, despite Russia's occupation and claimed annexation. When asked what a ceasefire might look like, Zelensky said the first stage would have to be a ceasefire by land and sea, as Ukraine sees this as the only way to stop Russian aggression. Trump was able to extract an agreement for a ceasefire on energy infrastructure - which Russia has repeatedly targeted - from Putin in a call last Tuesday, but nothing more. (BBC/Reuters)
