Russia doesn’t want peace, says Zelensky ahead of Florida meeting with Trump
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who will be meeting Donald Trump in Florida today, for the latest round of talks aimed at ending nearly four years of war with Russia, has declared that Russia doesn’t want peace.
The pair will discuss an updated version of a US-brokered peace plan, which Moscow is yet to support, as well as separate proposals for US security guarantees.
Their meeting at the US President resident’s Mar-a-Lago home follows intense Russian bombardment of Kyiv over the weekend, which Zelensky said is evidence that Moscow “doesn’t want peace”.
On Friday night, a 10-hour missile and drone barrage targeting Ukraine’s capital killed two people and left 32 others injured, local authorities said.
There were further Russian strikes on Saturday night.
At the meeting in Florida, Zelensky is expected to raise security guarantees and territorial concessions for Ukraine, both of which are issues that Russia has previously been unwilling to compromise on.
They will also discuss the new 20-point peace plan, a revised version of an earlier 28-point plan drafted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff which was widely seen as being too favourable to Russia.
Control of Ukraine’s Eastern Donbas has been a major sticking point so far, but Zelensky has now said a “free economic zone” could be an option.
Moscow currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and some 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk. The regions are collectively known as Donbas.
The Kremlin has not commented on Zelensky’s offer to withdraw troops from the Eastern Donbas region, if Russia pulls back too.
But on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was “in no hurry to resolve this conflict peacefully”, state-owned news agency Tass reported.
Putin added that if Kyiv did not want to resolve the conflict peacefully, Russia would accomplish its objectives militarily.
