By Max Hunder
KYIV, Jan 16 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian delegation is en route to the U.S. for talks on security guarantees and a post-war recovery package, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday, expressing hope the documents could be signed on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.
During the talks, Kyiv’s team also hopes to get clarity from the U.S. on the Russian stance toward U.S.-backed diplomatic efforts to end the war, Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv alongside Czech president Petr Pavel.
U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters earlier this week that he may meet with Zelenskiy at the WEF, a meeting which the Ukrainian leader has publicly sought.
Zelenskiy said that Ukraine had completed its part of the work on the documents outlining a “prosperity package” to unlock money for Ukraine’s costly post-war recovery, as well as on U.S. security guarantees designed to stop a future Russian attack. Ukrainian officials have said the country will need $800 billion for its post-war reconstruction.
Trump, who has often criticised Zelenskiy, said on Wednesday that Russia was ready for a peace deal and that he saw the Ukrainian leader as the obstacle to peace, an assessment which stands in stark contrast with that of European allies.
Washington has pushed Ukraine to agree to a peace framework that it will then present to Moscow, while Kyiv and its European allies have sought to ensure that Ukraine will not be attacked again by Russia in future.
On Friday, Zelenskiy said Russia was stalling peace efforts, and cited Moscow’s recent strikes on Ukraine’s energy system as proof of Moscow’s real intentions.
“Each of these strikes against our energy sector and our cities quite clearly shows Russia’s real interests and intentions: they are not interested in agreements, but in the further destruction of Ukraine,” he posted on social media after the news conference.
(Reporting by Max Hunder, writing by Yuliia Dysa, editing by Daniel Flynn)
