Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a long interview with Reuters that the Trump administration is demanding that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the rest of Donbas, after which the United States will provide certain security guarantees.
However, Zelenskyy believes that withdrawing from Donbas is a wrong and dangerous step, including politically and for Trump.
“The Americans are ready to formulate these security guarantees at a high level when Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas. In my opinion, the Russian side is creating an atmosphere around this idea in its dialogue with the Americans: that Ukraine should withdraw from Donbas, then the United States will provide Ukraine with the security guarantees that it wants, and the Russians will definitely end the war. We have found ourselves in something like this triangle,” he said.
According to Zelenskyy: “You understand that withdrawing from Donbas is wrong, immoral, etc., but withdrawing from Donbas also means weakening Ukraine’s defense lines.”
He also argued: “Therefore, I think that withdrawing from the eastern part of the country is a big risk for Ukraine, for Europe, and ultimately, the broken peace is a big risk for Trump and his team. So we need to talk… If all three sides want peace, they should hold at least one meeting at the leadership level to discuss territorial issues and security guarantees. These are two main issues: territories and security guarantees. The mediator here is the United States. I think that they have all the necessary capabilities in their hands.”
