Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the US has given Ukraine and Russia another deadline to reach a peace deal and is now proposing that the war end by June. The Ukrainian president also told reporters that both sides have been invited to further talks next week.
Zelenskyy said the Trump administration “will most likely put pressure” on Ukraine and Russia to end the war by early summer. “They say they want to end everything by June,” he said. “They will do everything to end the war and they want a clear calendar of all events.”
He told reporters that if the new June deadline is not met, Washington will likely pressure both sides to meet, reports The Guardian.
Before Donald Trump took office, he promised to “end the war within 24 hours.” Later, his special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, suggested that the two sides could reach an agreement within 100 days of Trump’s inauguration.
After that didn't happen, the US president set a new deadline for a deal in August last year, which also passed without any sign of peace, and in December he said a draft agreement to end the war was almost "95% complete".
Two days of US-led peace talks to end the war took place this week in Abu Dhabi but failed to produce decisive progress, although Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said the three-way negotiations had been "really constructive".
Zelenskyy said Saturday that the Trump administration is proposing to host the next round of trilateral talks in the United States, likely in Miami, within a week. “We confirmed our participation,” he said.
He hinted that the new June deadline for peace could be linked to Trump's campaign for the midterm elections. "The [midterm] elections are definitely more important to them [Americans]. Let's not be naive."
He added: "If the Russians are really ready to end the war, then it's really important to set a deadline."
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