Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said that Ukraine is not yet ready to start any negotiations with Russia, as it does not feel sufficient support from the West to conduct them from a position of strength. Yermak stressed that for Zelenskyy, “the language of ultimatums is unacceptable,” and “there will be no new Minsk or Normandy formats.
Yermak explained that, “We lack weapons. We need an invitation to NATO. We need strong security guarantees to make sure that this will never happen again and that Putin will not return in two or three years. That is why we are discussing with partners why it is so important to strengthen Ukraine.”
He also said there is no specific Trump peace plan yet, and the president-elect’s team is ready to listen to Kyiv’s interpretation of the situation and potential avenues to ending the war.
At their meeting in Paris, Zelenskyy and Macron explained to Trump their vision of what is needed for lasting peace in Ukraine but did not discuss specific details.