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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rebuked Russian demands for Moscow to be included in any security guarantees for postwar Ukraine, as US efforts to end the conflict hit an impasse because of Vladimir Putin’s hardline stance.
The Ukrainian president’s comments came as he met Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte in Kyiv on Friday to discuss western security guarantees, following high-profile talks in the past week over ending the war.
“When Russia raises the issue of security guarantees, I, frankly speaking, do not know who is threatening them,” Zelenskyy said. “They attacked us, and I do not quite understand what guarantees the aggressor needs.”
However, on Wednesday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had said that any discussions that did not include Moscow were a “road to nowhere”.
Insisting that an agreement drafted in the early weeks of the 2022 invasion serve as a basis for talks, Lavrov said: “Moscow won’t agree with collective security guarantees negotiated without Russia.”
The agreement, which was not concluded, would have given Moscow an effective veto over any attempt to provide Ukraine with military support in case of further aggression.
Lavrov also told NBC on Friday that no meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin was currently planned, in the latest indication that the Russian president has not softened his demands after meeting US President Donald Trump in Alaska last week.
The foreign minister repeated a long-standing Russian position that a summit between the two leaders would need Kyiv to agree to an agenda that incorporated Moscow’s maximalist positions.
“Russia does not want, did not want, and will not want to end the war now,” Zelenskyy said. “It wants to issue ultimatums, and to use those to delay the possibility of ending this war.”
On Friday, Putin made an unannounced visit to Sarov, a city in central Russia known for its role in developing the Soviet nuclear weapons programme.
Putin’s trip came a day after Trump vaguely hinted at boosting Ukraine’s offensive capabilities. The Russian leader has made veiled threats several times to use nuclear weapons if western countries help Ukraine attack the Russian mainland.
Later on Friday, Trump said he would make a decision in two weeks when he expects to “know the attitude of Russia and, frankly, of Ukraine. Then I’m going to make a decision as to what we do, and it’s going to be . . . it’s going to be a very important decision. And that’s whether or not it’s massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both, or do we do nothing and say it’s your fight?”
Trump added that he was “not happy” about Ukraine hitting Russia’s oil pipeline facility. He said: “I’m not happy about anything about that war . . . I think over the next two weeks we’re going to find out about which way it’s going to go.”
Ukraine’s allies have tried in the past few days to seize on momentum created by the White House meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump on Monday.
During that summit, Trump said the US would be ready to play a role in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security. But the precise details of any guarantees remain murky.
Speaking in Kyiv, Rutte said the agreement would consist of “two layers”: a cessation of hostilities and support for the Ukrainian military, followed by security guarantees backed by the US and Europe.
“We do not want a repeat of the Budapest memorandum or the Minsk agreement,” Rutte said, referring to non-aggression pacts signed by Ukraine in 1994, when it handed over its nuclear arsenal to Russia, and 2014, after Moscow annexed Crimea.
Zelenskyy said “Article 5-like” guarantees that mirror Nato’s mutual defence clause should clearly specify “which countries help us on the ground, which ones work to ensure the security of our skies, and which ones guarantee security at sea”.
The UK and France have been working on setting up a so-called reassurance force, which would be backed by US intelligence and logistics, but progress has been slow with several European governments facing public opposition to planned deployments to Ukraine.
“Ukraine needs security guarantees so that you and I, our children and our grandchildren know clearly that Russia will not attack us,” Zelenskyy said.