Zelensky Outlines Three Possible Options for Talks with Putin

Germany, France and Ukraine have agreed to continue work in the Normandy format.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that talks with Russia over Donbas are possible not only in the Normandy format. 

He noted that Ukraine remains committed to continuing talks in the “Normandy Four” format, and this was discussed at a meeting with the leaders of France and Germany in Brussels. 

The president said: “We confirm our readiness for the Normandy format.” He added, however, that he does not see a need to hold a Normandy summit just for the sake of a meeting, and expects the leaders to resolve accumulated issues, such as opening checkpoints on the administrative boundary line with Donbas. 

Ukraine therefore also advocates involving the United States, but not in the Normandy format, rather in a new one. The president hinted that there is not yet readiness to expand the Normandy format. 

On the conditions for US participation in the negotiation process, the president said: “I would like the United States to play a leading role. It could be a trilateral format. But it cannot be without Ukraine. Nothing can be done behind Ukraine’s back.” 

Ukraine is also considering the possibility of direct talks with Russia: “Ukraine is ready for any format of negotiations to settle the conflict. What is needed is the will of the Russian Federation, and it is absent.” 

Zelensky gave the example that even Armenia and Azerbaijan were able to agree on direct talks: Aliyev and Pashinyan met for this in Brussels. According to him, there was a “warm meeting” between them. 

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

We believe that someday this will also happen in the war between Ukraine and Russia, between our states. 

At the same time, at the meeting in Brussels, the leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France agreed to continue work in the Normandy format. 

Zelensky’s meeting with Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron took place on the sidelines of the Eastern Partnership summit.

The president of Ukraine said that he thanked Macron and Scholz for their decisive support of Ukraine amid the military threat from Russia, as well as for the consistent position of Germany and France in the Normandy format. 

Zelensky noted that the leaders of the countries “confirmed their readiness to continue work.” Before the talks in the Normandy troika format, the Ukrainian president separately spoke with Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz.

At the meeting with the French president, Zelensky expressed hope that France’s EU presidency in 2022 would pay special attention to Ukraine’s security and to countering Russian hybrid aggression in Europe. 

The meeting with Scholz addressed the possible membership of Ukraine in NATO. The leaders’ talks took place at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward a new demand to Western countries: to rule out any further eastward expansion of NATO and to make it impossible to deploy weapons in Ukraine, which he claims could threaten Russia’s security. 

Russia has concentrated tens of thousands of troops and heavy equipment near Ukraine’s borders, and in Ukraine and in the West there are fears of a growing Russian aggression. 

The EU, the US and the UK have stated that any aggressive steps by Russia against Ukraine will lead to serious sanctions against Moscow.