Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday the text of a bilateral security guarantee between Kyiv and Washington was “essentially ready” to be finalised with U.S. President Donald Trump.
– As a cornerstone of any post-war settlement, Ukraine has sought strong guarantees which commit the U.S. and other Western allies to come to Ukraine’s aid if Russia invades again.
– On Tuesday, the U.S. endorsed the idea of providing security guarantees for Ukraine for the first time.
– “The bilateral document on security guarantees for Ukraine is now essentially ready for finalisation at the highest level with the president (Trump),” Zelenskiy said in a post on X.
– Under Trump, Washington has shifted its position from an outright supporter of Kyiv to a broker leaning on both sides to agree a peace, and will try to get Moscow to sign up to the deal it negotiates with Ukraine.
– Zelenskiy has said that while the framework is 90% agreed, thorny issues remain around control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as well as Russian demands on Kyiv to cede a strategically significant slice of territory in eastern Ukraine that Moscow has been unable to capture in almost four years of war.
– “We understand that the American side will engage with Russia, and we expect feedback on whether the aggressor is genuinely willing to end the war,” Zelenskiy wrote on X.
– He said the teams also discussed documents dealing with Ukraine’s post-war recovery and economic development.
– The World Bank last year estimated the cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery at $524 billion, while the Trump administration has sought to leverage economic benefits and privileged post-war access for the U.S. in Ukraine.