Trump set to finalize Ukraine security guarantee document (Zelensky) – National

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that the text of a bilateral security guarantee between kyiv and Washington was “essentially ready” to be finalized with the US president Donald Trump.

As a cornerstone of any postwar settlement, Ukraine has sought strong guarantees that would commit the United States and other Western allies to commitment. Ukraine helps if Russia invades again.

Ukrainian and U.S. envoys, joined by a coalition of Ukraine’s allies, negotiated this week in Paris to iron out remaining disagreements over a peace framework that Washington seeks to negotiate with kyiv before presenting it to Russia. On Tuesday, the United States for the first time approved the idea of ​​providing security guarantees to Ukraine.

“The bilateral document on security guarantees for Ukraine is now, in essence, ready to be finalized at the highest level with the President (Trump),” Zelensky said in a message on X.

He said Wednesday’s meetings of Ukrainian and American representatives in Paris addressed “complex issues” related to the framework under discussion to end the conflict. war of almost four yearsand that Kyiv had presented its solutions to these problems.

Ukraine’s president called for more pressure on Russia after new Russian talks missile attacks on energy infrastructure Wednesday, arguing that the credibility of future security guarantees must be demonstrated by a response at this stage.

Under Trump, Washington has gone from an outright supporter of kyiv to a broker that supports both sides in reaching a peace deal, and will try to get Moscow to sign the deal it is negotiating with Ukraine.

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Zelensky said that even if the framework is 90% accepted, thorny questions remain around control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as well as Russian demands for kyiv to cede a strategically important slice of territory in eastern Ukraine that Moscow has been unable to conquer in nearly four years of war.

“We understand that the American side will engage with Russia and we await feedback on the real desire of the aggressor to end the war,” Zelensky wrote on X.

He added that the teams also discussed documents dealing with Ukraine’s post-war recovery and economic development.

Last year, the World Bank estimated the cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery at $524 billion, while the Trump administration sought to take advantage of the United States’ economic advantages and privileged access to Ukraine after the war.