Zelensky demands security guarantees before summit

AFP | Kyiv

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he could meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but only after his allies agree security guarantees for Ukraine to deter future Russian attacks once the fighting stops.

In comments released yesterday, he also warned both sides were preparing for further fighting. Russia was building up troops on the southern front line and Ukraine was test-launching a new long-range cruise missile, he said.

Russia said yesterday that Ukraine did not appear to be interested in “long-term” peace, accusing Kyiv of seeking security guarantees completely incompatible with Moscow’s demands.

US President Donald Trump is trying to end Russia’s three-anda-half year invasion of Ukraine through talks with Zelensky and Putin.

While he has upended a yearslong Western policy of isolating the Russian leader, he has made little tangible progress towards a peace deal.

“We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days,” Zelensky said, in comments to reporters released for publication yesterday.

“We need to understand which country will be ready to do what at each specific moment,” he added.

A group of allies led by Britain and France are putting together a military coalition to support the guarantees.

Fresh Russian barrage Once an outline of the security guarantees is agreed, Trump would like to see a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader said.

But any meeting with the Russian leader should he held in a “neutral” European country, he added, ruling out any summit in Moscow.

He also rejected the idea of China playing a role in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security, citing Beijing’s alleged support for Moscow.

Zelensky’s comments came as Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Ukraine overnight -- the biggest barrage since mid-July -- killing one person in the western city of Lviv and wounding many others.

A later shelling attack on the city of Kherson killed one person and wounded six others, a local official said.

Explosions were reportedly heard throughout the night.

France yesterday condemned the overnight strikes as showing Moscow’s “lack of will to seriously engage in peace talks”, describing the strikes as the “most massive attack in a month”.

Russia claims advances

On the front lines, Russia said it had captured the village of Oleksandro-Shultyne in the eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a long string of territorial gains.

The village lies less than eight kilometres (five miles) from Kostiantynivka, a fortified town in the Donetsk region that Russia has been pressing towards on both sides.

In comments to journalists yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of making unrealistic security demands.

Any deployment of European troops to the country would be “absolutely unacceptable”, he said.