By Yuliia Dysa
KYIV, Feb 7 (Reuters) – The United States wants Russia and Ukraine to find a solution on how to end the war, the largest since World War Two, before summer, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
In remarks to reporters released by his office on Saturday, Zelenskiy said that Washington had proposed a new round of talks between Kyiv and Moscow to take place in Miami in a week and that Kyiv had agreed to that.
“The Americans are proposing that the parties end the war before the start of this summer, and will likely pressure the parties to adhere to this schedule,” Zelenskiy said. “The (mid-term Congressional) elections are definitely more important to them. Let’s not be naive. And they say they want to get everything done by June.”
Zelenskiy’s statement confirmed an earlier Reuters report on the proposed timing for a deal. Ukraine had suggested a sequencing plan, Zelenskiy said, but provided no specific details.
Ukraine and Russia concluded two days of US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi this week without a major breakthrough but the two sides agreed to exchange 157 prisoners of war each, resuming such swaps after a five-month pause. Zelenskiy said that the POW swap would continue.
The military teams discussed in detail technical aspects on how to monitor a potential ceasefire, Zelenskiy said. Security guarantees for Ukraine and agreements on economic cooperation, referred to by officials as “the prosperity plan” that outlined Ukraine’s postwar recovery, were also discussed.
Zelenskiy said he had reports from his intelligence services on discussions in which Russia’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev proposed co-operation deals between Russia and the United States worth as much as $12 trillion. He said that any such bilateral agreements between Russia and the United States could not violate the Ukrainian constitution.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Writing by Olena Harmash; Editing by Daniel Flynn)
