Name: Stand-out developments from Ukraine peace talks | DW News
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Ukraine's President Zelensky says peace talks with US Negotiators have been productive but not easy.

He was speaking following talks in Berlin aimed at reaching a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

Zelensky said he wants clear security guarantees for his country from the US And Europe before he will consider making territorial concessions to Russia.

He has been under heavy pressure from the Trump administration to cede territory to Russia in exchange for peace.

A reception with the German president, talks with the German chancellor, an appearance before business leaders, and

Volodymyr Zelensky spent two days in Berlin engaging in intensive talks aimed at ending Russia's war on Ukraine.

However, the most important meetings took place almost entirely behind closed doors.

Those with US Negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

The president of Ukraine, said afterwards the meeting meetings were not easy, but productive.

Wytkov indicated that they made a lot of progress in the talks, but did not elaborate.

official said it's now up to Ukraine to decide what territories in the Donbas region might be given to Russia.

President Zelenskyy reiterated he cannot relinquish territories in eastern Ukraine permanently which are currently occupied by Russia.

But he has conceded on NATO membership for Ukraine, tentatively accepting new security guarantees instead.

We have heard from the US that there will be security guarantees that are similar to NATO's collective defense pledge, Article 5, and

that is a first step, then the question of monitoring a ceasefire.

I would say this is the very foundation of security guarantees.

The German Chancellor appealed to the Russian leadership to stop attacks on Ukraine and to accept the common peace plan drafted by the us, The Europeans and Ukraine.

Perhaps the Russian leadership still has a shred of human decency left and will at least leave the population in peace for a few days over Christmas.

And perhaps that could then be the beginning of reasonable, constructive talks on how we can achieve lasting peace in Ukraine.

After talks in Berlin, the German government is looking to U.S.

negotiators to convince Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, to accept the peace plan.

A US official in Berlin said 90% of the issues between Russia and Ukraine have been resolved now, but

a date for the next meeting with the Russians has not yet been set.

Simon Young joins us now from in front of the Chancellor.

He has been following the talks today and yesterday.

Of course, Simon, European leaders are attending right now a meeting and proposing a European led multinational force.

What more can you tell us about this proposal that's on the table?

Yeah, Nicole, this is part of a statement that European Leaders who've been meeting at the Chancellor here in Berlin behind me have released this evening and it talks about a wide range of support measures for Ukraine now and going forward during a ceasefire and in the reconstruction process.

And I think the chief point is the one you've already mentioned, this multinational force, Ukraine, made up of countries in the framework of the coalition of the willing, that's European nations primarily, that have been supporting Ukraine and it also says backed by the United States.

And the role of that will be both to assist in the training and and regeneration of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, but

also to help them in securing their airspace and also their maritime coast.

And as part of that, it says that US Support should continue, particularly to help the Ukrainians in surveillance of their airspace and of their territory, monitoring any ceasefire.

The document also talks about Ukraine continuing to maintain a peacetime defense force level of 800,000 troops.

And it also goes on to say that the ball is really now in Moscow's court.

It's up to them to accept this peace plan, a plan that I believe European leaders are presenting this as a common peace plan supported by Ukraine, by the Europeans, but

So something like a breakthrough this evening here in Berlin.

But does it get even close to the Article 5 like security guarantees that Ukraine has been asking for?

Do we know how it's going to work in practice?

Well, like I said, I think it's talking about supporting Ukraine's military, but

also in terms of keeping its own strength up to readiness.

But they're also talking clearly about putting European forces on Ukrainian territory.

But exactly what form that will take, how many of them that will be is not clear.

If they're really only there to, as it were, do training and assist, then that might not be the so many of them.

And of course this is going to be a key point of dissension with Moscow, which has said that it wants to see a sort of almost demilitarized Ukraine going forward.

So it's not a security guarantee in that sense.

But at least if they saying that the United States are on board monitoring a ceasefire, guaranteeing it and willing to intervene in some form, the details of course have yet to be worked out.

Then that comes some way, it goes some way, at least to providing those all important security guarantees for the Ukrainians.

You said it's set to happen in the framework of the so called coalition of the willing.

Do we know what countries would take part in it?

Is it likely that all EU countries will agree to this.

And we're, of course, looking at the usual suspect, Hungary there.

Well, I think those, those again, are among the details to be worked out.

I don't suppose it is relevant that all EU countries would be involved, but

clearly this is something that's got the backing also of NATO.

And, you know, this idea of a multinational force is not the first time it's been mentioned, but

I think it's the first time it's been given this prominence in one of these documents that the international leadership have been working on for months and indeed years to try and find a way forward to peace in Ukraine.

And, you know, now they're talking about this idea more clearly.

They also say that they'll continue to work intensively over the coming days.

We've got a European summit coming up later this week, but

of course it's going to take a bit longer than that, I'm sure, to put all the details around this idea into position.

Well, to shed more light on this, let's bring in John Hardy, Russia Program deputy director at the foundation for the Defence of Democracies.

john, thank you so much for joining us here on dw.

Basically, all of the participants of today's talk speak of real or significant progress being made.

It does sound like there was significant the Ukrainians see significant progress in the kind of aspect of the discussion focused on security guarantees.

That seems to be where they're most happy with what President Trump and his envoys have on offer.

The issue of territory, though, I think is probably the biggest sticking point with Wyckoff and Kushner kind of pushing the Ukrainians to agree to Russia's demand to withdraw from the rest of the Donbass, something that Putin says his forces will do by force if the Ukrainians don't agree, although in my view, there's really very little prospect the Russians can achieve that and therefore the Ukrainians don't see much reason to oblige.

And what specifically stood out to you there, especially on the topic of US Security guarantees?

Well, if you look at previous drafts of what the US has on offer and kind of some of the signals coming out of Berlin, it sounds like what's on offer is significantly more than Ukraine has ever received from the United States.

You know, not quite as good as membership in NATO, but it's not nothing.

That being said, I do worry that the Trump administration might be getting out a Little bit over its skis.

Some of the language is really, is Article 5 like, where there's not explicit commitment to intervene militarily in Ukraine, but

And really, the recent presidents, on a bipartisan basis haven't been willing to do that.

I don't think there's any consensus in Congress about a willingness to do that.

And so I just worry that we're kind of offering something that's hollow and if tested, would not respond accordingly, which could lead to undermined credibility in the actual Article 5 for NATO.

And with that specifically in mind, then, what do you think is your assessment of what made the progress actually possible?

I mean, did the US Actually listen to the Europeans then, or did the Europeans maybe bow to US Pressure?

I think the Trump administration has been generally receptive to the fact that Ukraine wants some sort of security guarantee to enable it to do a peace deal.

I think everyone understands that we don't want to have a third war.

And unfortunately, I think that however this war ends, if it does end in negotiated settlement, it's unlikely to kind of fundamentally resolve the basic struggle between Russia and Ukraine over Ukraine's future and sovereignty.

So the chances of a third war, unfortunately, are high.

So the need for a security guarantee is obvious.

I think that the Ukrainians have been explaining to Wyckoff and Kushner that if they are going to show any sort of flexibility on territory, that there's going to have to be kind of that firm guarantee to give them the flexibility and confidence to do that and to be able to sell it to the Ukrainian people.

And even if something is ultimately agreed upon, will the Russians play along?

I think that if you look at what the Kremlin has been saying about these talks with Ukrainians and Europeans, what they're saying is basically, hey, don't, don't get too comfortable because, you know, all the concessions you're doing to make this deal more palatable to Ukraine and the Europeans, we want the opposite.

And so, you know, for example, much of the language on security guarantees, particularly surrounding, you know, potential Western deployments inside Ukraine, is going to be unacceptable to the Kremlin.