The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has announced that Brussels will be the scene this week of a high-level meeting on security, in which delegations from the United States, the European Union (EU), NATO, and Kiev will participate. The objective will be to analyze the latest proposal to end the war with Russia, continuing from the recent meeting held in Norway and the trip of the White House envoy to St. Petersburg to address this initiative.
In an interview with the television program TSN.Tyzhden, Zelensky recalled that the Oslo meeting included direct contacts between him and the American representative Steve Witkoff, in addition to conversations involving security advisors from several European countries, along with representatives from the EU and the Atlantic Alliance.
The president explained that, after receiving information from Witkoff about his dealings in St. Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the conclusions of Oslo, a new security meeting in Brussels has been put on the table to assess the situation. He indicated that the meeting could take place on Tuesday or Wednesday.
"Now they don't just want an update (on the contacts in Russia), but to discuss in depth about security, guarantees, and the EU," Zelensky pointed out. "They want a meeting this week in Brussels," he added, according to the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.
In this regard, he clarified that the meeting would include delegations from the United States, Ukraine, the EU, and NATO. "I don't know if there will be anyone else as part of this group in Brussels, since that is where NATO and the EU have their headquarters," the Ukrainian president specified, without offering further details about the format for now.
At the same time, he confirmed that a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the United States, and Russia is scheduled for November, although he insisted that sanctions against Moscow should not be lifted as a condition for negotiations or to facilitate this dialogue. "Sanctions were imposed due to aggression, not to have an opportunity to talk," he defended.
"I have the feeling, and I have lived enough, that when we talk about Russia's loyalty, we should not buy it at that price. If we continue without sanctions and in a trilateral format, you can end up in a situation where nothing is clear and, what would happen then?" he wondered. "The sanctions would already have been lifted," he warned.
"Who would then have the strength that we had at the beginning of the war to impose all the sanctions again, to unite people so that there were more than 20 packages of sanctions around the world? For this reason, I am very cautious about this matter," emphasized the head of the Ukrainian state.
In parallel, Zelensky has shown willingness to suspend attacks on Russian refineries if Russia stops its offensives against Ukrainian energy infrastructure. "An energy truce. That could work," he indicated, after several previous calls for an agreement in this area have not prospered.
He also stressed that Kiev "does not see requests from large European countries to lift sanctions and restore energy alliances with Russia." "I don't see it, given that we would react. I would react," he stated, while admitting that some EU partners still depend on oil and gas supplied by Moscow.
Finally, Zelensky insisted that the diplomatic path "is advancing" towards a possible peace understanding. "We have to advance on all fronts," he maintained, emphasizing that it has been possible to "unblock the format of negotiations." "If God wills, there will be results," he concluded.