Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said on X that “a lot of progress” had been made during an initial hours-long meeting on Sunday that also involved the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Motorcades carrying the US and Ukrainian delegations arrived at Berlin’s chancellery building on Monday shortly before a Ukrainian official confirmed that the talks had resumed.
Ukraine hopes to convince the US that a ceasefire must be agreed without prior territorial concessions to Russia, while the country’s European allies stress that any deal must bring a “just peace” and ensure Russia does not resume hostilities in future.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, hosting the talks, was set to meet Zelensky later on Monday before they were due to be joined in the evening by a group of European leaders and the heads of NATO and the EU in a show of support for Ukraine.
Central Berlin has been turned into a high-security zone with police closing roads for passing motorcades and police snipers on rooftops, dog patrols on the streets and anti-drone units surveying the skies.
Trump has pushed strongly for an end to the almost four-year-old war, but an initial 28-point plan last month was seen has heavily favouring Russia’s position by Kyiv and its European allies.
Ukraine has since presented counter-proposals and Zelenksy said on Sunday his country was ready to forgo its desired NATO membership, provided it received solid security guarantees in return.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, including AFP, on Monday on the NATO point that “this issue is one of the cornerstones and requires special discussion”.
He added that Russia was expecting the US to “provide us with the concept that is being discussed in Berlin today”.
Difficult questions centre on what territorial concessions Ukraine may have to make — and whether Russia would ultimately agree on any deal the Europeans and Americans may hash out.
US negotiators still want Ukraine to cede control of the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, collectively known as the Donbas, as a condition of peace talks with Russia, an official briefed on the negotiations told AFP on Monday.
“Putin wants territory,” the official said, adding that the United States was demanding that Ukraine “withdraw” from the regions — and that Kyiv was “not agreeing” to this demand.
“It’s a bit striking that the Americans are taking the Russians’ position on this issue,” the official added.
– ‘Intensive negotiations’ –
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul had earlier Monday voiced cautious optimism, tempered with worries about whether Putin would back away from maximalist demands.
“I believe the negotiations have never been as serious as they are now. They are being conducted very intensively,” Wadephul said.
“But whether it will be successful, we won’t know until the end of the week. Of course, every effort is worthwhile in this historic situation to finally end this terrible dying and bring this war to a close.
“What we still don’t know is whether Vladimir Putin truly has a genuine will to end this war.”
Zelensky was later Monday set to meet German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, then join Merz at a Ukrainian-German business conference before both are set to give a joint press conference.
In the evening they are to be joined for dinner by a host of European leaders that would include, according to Berlin, France’s Emmanuel Macron, as well as Britain’s Keir Starmer, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Poland’s Donald Tusk and Finland’s Alexander Stubb.
Also expected there are NATO chief Mark Rutte and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.
Zelensky has said that — although there was no strict deadline to finalise an agreement — Washington wanted to have the contours of a deal ready by Christmas.
The Ukrainian president said on Sunday: “The most important thing is that the plan should be as fair as possible, first and foremost for Ukraine, because Russia started the war.”
burs-fz/jsk/jxb
