By Daniel Flynn and Olena Harmash
KYIV, March 25 (Reuters) – The U.S. has made its offer of security guarantees needed for a peace deal in Ukraine conditional on Kyiv ceding all of the country’s eastern region of Donbas to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Reuters in an interview.
With the United States now focused on its own conflict with Iran, President Donald Trump is applying pressure on Ukraine in an effort to bring a quick end to the four-year war triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion, Zelenskiy said.
“The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump, and I think on his next steps. President Trump, unfortunately, in my opinion, still chooses a strategy to put more pressure on the Ukrainian side,” he told Reuters.
The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said that robust security guarantees from international partners are needed to ensure that Russia did not restart hostilities in the future, if a peace deal was agreed.
“The Americans are prepared to finalise these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas,” he said, warning that such a withdrawal would compromise the security of both Ukraine and, by extension, Europe, because it would cede the region’s strong defensive positions to Russia.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Zelenskiy had said in January that the security guarantees document between Ukraine and the U.S. was “100% ready” and waiting to be signed. Then, on Tuesday, following talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Miami, he said that there was still work to be done.
RUSSIA IS BETTING US WILL WALK AWAY, ZELENSKIY SAYS
Speaking in the presidential compound in the centre of Kyiv, Zelenskiy said that Russia – which has consistently demanded territory in Donbas still under Ukrainian control – was betting Washington would lose interest in the talks and walk away.
Russia is slowly advancing on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine. Military analysts say it could take several years and a significant amount of manpower for it to fully conquer the region, which includes a so-called ‘Fortress Belt’ of cities heavily fortified by the Ukrainian military.
Following heavy Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities on Wednesday, Zelenskiy thanked the Trump administration for maintaining the supplies of Patriot missile defence systems, despite increased demand for these weapons because of the conflict in the Gulf.
Ukrainian officials have previously expressed fears that shipments of U.S.-made Patriots – the only missiles capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles – would dry up because of the Iran conflict.
“We were not stopped from deliveries. I’m very grateful to President Trump, and to his team,” Zelenskiy said. “But this supply of Patriot missiles is not as large as we need.”
Ukraine was making progress in its production of its own long-range missiles and drones, allowing it to strike deep within Russia in retaliation for Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities, he said.
(Reporting by Daniel Flynn and Olena Harmash; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
