Zelensky says he doesn't see Trump's "prepared plan" to end the war

BrusselsHigh-level meeting on ending the Ukraine war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Vice President JD Vance are scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. on Friday at the Munich Security Conference to discuss the issue. the resolution of the war in Ukraine. It is a meeting that comes at a key moment in the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, just after Donald Trump announced that he had agreed with Vladimir Putin to begin negotiations are "imminent", and the Pentagon has already outlined the basis for the discussions: Crimea and part of eastern Ukraine are almost lost, and it rules out the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO as a result of a potential peace agreement.

Trump also announced on Thursday that senior Russian representatives would attend Zelensky's meeting with the strongmen of the new Republican administration. However, the Kremlin has denied that it will send a delegation to the Munich Conference and the Ukrainian president has admitted that he has no evidence of this. "I don't know anything. Is there anyone who knows more than me?" Zelensky asked ironically before journalists. On the other hand, the number two of the Ukrainian government, Andri Iermak, and the White House representative for the war in Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, also met on Friday morning.

Zelensky also took advantage of the press conference leading up to the summit, which will bring together around 60 leaders, to lower expectations about "imminent" negotiations, as announced by Trump. The Ukrainian president has assured that the discussions he has had with the White House so far are far from "sufficient for a plan" for peace. In addition, he regretted that "strong" but "varied" signals coming from the US administration regarding the resolution of the conflict.

In this regard, although he did not address her directly, he did make a veiled criticism of the fact that the United States had already conceded some of Putin's main maximum demands before sitting down to negotiate. "We will never recognize the territories occupied by Russia," the Ukrainian president stressed. And, regarding Ukraine's future in the Atlantic Alliance, he was equally forceful. "We want to be in NATO, of course. We believe in NATO's security guarantees," Zelensky added.

Ukraine's path to the EU and NATO

Both the United States and NATO, which is de facto controlled by Washington, have changed their position regarding Ukraine's future in the Atlantic Alliance and, with the return of Donald Trump, are increasingly moving away from the possibility of Ukraine's future accession to the largest military entity in the world. However, at the last summit of heads of state and government of the Atlantic Alliance in Washington, it was agreed that Ukraine's path to NATO is "irreversible." And, in fact, this is what British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reminded this Friday morning. "The Prime Minister reiterates the United Kingdom's commitment to Ukraine following a path of no return to NATO," says a statement issued by Downing Street.

As for the European Union, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has also insisted that Ukraine's future lies within the community bloc. "Ukraine's accession to the EU must be accelerated," said the community leader. In this regard, at a time when the EU fears being left out of potential negotiations, Von der Leyen has claimed the key role of the European club in these almost three years of war and, above all, the one it will have in the reconstruction of the Ukrainian country. "The future of Europe is also the future of Ukraine," the conservative leader stressed before participating in the Munich Conference.