Ukraine Peace Talks Show Promise, US Offers Security Guarantees

The chance of a peace process around the Ukraine war is closer than at any time as Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday, adding that the US had offered “considerable” security guarantees.

“What the US has placed on the table here in Berlin in terms of legal and material guarantees is really considerable,” Mr. Merz told a joint news conference with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy after hours of talks with US negotiators.

“A territorial settlement remains a key question,” he added. “Only the Ukrainian people, the American president, the Ukrainian president, here defending his territory, can give an answer… Only Ukraine can decide about territorial concessions. No ifs or buts.”

earlier, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said pressuring Ukraine to give up the “fortress” of the Donbas region in any peace agreement would leave the rest of the country vulnerable to future Russian attack.

European leaders are desperate to avoid Washington pushing Ukraine into a shaky truce that favors Moscow and perhaps undermines Ukraine and Europe’s future security.

The question of territorial concessions, a red line for Ukraine and key demand for Russia, is seen as one of the biggest sticking points in agreeing a truce in Europe’s deadliest conflict since 1945.

Ukrainian negotiators held a further round of talks with US officials in Berlin on Monday. During weekend discussions, US negotiators reportedly insisted Ukraine should give up territory in the east that Russia had been unable to take by force.

A wider group of European leaders traveled to Berlin for talks with Mr. Zelenskiy.