Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seeking to meet with President Donald Trump "as soon as possible", possibly around Thanksgiving, to finalize a joint US-Ukrainian agreement on the terms of ending the war. This was stated by Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak to Axios, News.bg reports.
The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov added that Kiev expects to organize the visit in November to complete the final stages of developing the peace agreement. Umerov participated in negotiations with US representatives in Geneva over the weekend.
“I hope that the visit will take place as soon as possible, because it will help President Trump continue his historic mission to end the war,“ Ermak added.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted significant progress in the peace plan negotiations and the emergence of an updated and revised version of the document.
Zelensky's chief of staff stressed that Ukraine will not give up its ambitions to join NATO in the future, despite the conditions of the US peace plan. "Now we live in reality - we are not a member of NATO," said Yermak, specifying that the aspiration for the alliance is the country's constitutional obligation.
The law on enshrining the course towards the EU and NATO in the Ukrainian constitution came into force in 2019, with the president being the "guarantor of the implementation of the state's strategic course for full membership in the European Union and NATO."
The initial American plan included the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the remaining territories in Donbas, the de facto recognition of Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk as Russian, limiting the Ukrainian armed forces to 600,000 people and refusing to join NATO.
Following negotiations in Geneva on November 23 between the US, Ukraine and European representatives, the peace plan was significantly changed and shortened from 28 to 19 points. In the new version, restrictions on Kiev's armed forces and territorial concessions were postponed, taking into account Europe's position.