KYIV, Ukraine — As Ukraine peace talks have stretched on for nearly a year, through fits and spurts and dozens of rounds, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accentuated the positive. The talks are now “90% complete,” he said. Ukraine works every minute to end the war, he insisted.
But in recent days, with the question mark of Russia’s willingness to accept any deal still hanging over the negotiations, Zelenskyy has made some of his most skeptical comments in months. Ukraine, he said, is simultaneously talking and preparing for the war to rage on.
“I do not want and will not wait another six months hoping that maybe it will work,” Zelenskyy told journalists in Kyiv over the weekend. “There are two paths: The first priority is ending the war, the second is being prepared for negative steps by Russia — for its unwillingness to end the war.”
For now, Ukraine, the United States and Europe continue to talk among themselves. On Tuesday, European leaders held a summit in Paris focused on commitments to guarantee Ukraine’s postwar security. Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled a scheduled appearance, as the United States’ ouster of Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, risked a diplomatic and military distraction from the American-led peace efforts in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s 90% figure for progress in the talks did not budge after a long-awaited meeting with President Donald Trump in Florida last month, suggesting a lack of progress.
Ukraine and the United States have yet to reach agreement on territorial issues and on control of a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant. Ukraine and the U.S. have drawn up a rough outline for security guarantees, but crucial questions remain unresolved, and progress has been plodding.
On top of that, Russia has flatly rejected some Ukrainian proposals. “I understand that we are very close to results, but at some point, Russia may block everything,” Zelenskyy said.
He has cast a recent reshuffle of his government and security apparatus as necessary to build Ukraine’s resilience in case talks fail. The shake-up included appointing a general, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of military intelligence in Ukraine, as the new presidential chief of staff.
The overhaul also included reassigning a deputy foreign minister, Serhiy Kyslytsia, as deputy chief of staff. The moves, Zelenskyy said, reflected Ukraine’s determination to maintain two primary tracks: pursuing talks while preparing for a drawn-out war.
A draft of the peace plan described by Zelenskyy in December said that the United States, NATO, European nations and other allies would provide Ukraine with so-called Article 5-like guarantees. That is a reference to the mutual defense commitment in the NATO alliance.
Ukraine is negotiating with about 30 countries in a so-called Coalition of the Willing that have signaled a willingness to deploy forces in Ukraine or assist the Ukrainian military with weaponry and intelligence after any ceasefire.
Zelenskyy met Saturday with national security advisers from 18 of those countries. He and more than two dozen other leaders plan to meet on Tuesday in Paris, along with the Trump administration representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
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