Zelenskyy says he will reach out to Trump today to discuss call with Putin
Zelenskyy gets asked if he thinks Ukraine is sufficiently involved in peace talks.
He responds by saying that “next steps cannot be done without us,” as he intends to reach out to US president Donald Trump later today.
“We had a really good meeting in Jeddah between our teams, [and] I think everything was on the right track, except for Russia’s efforts,” he says.
He adds he “will discuss some details of the next steps with him, and I think I can hear the details of his conversation with Putin.”
Stubb joins in with praises for the Ukrainian “first class” diplomatic team involved in talks.
Key events
-
Zelenskyy appears to confirm plans for call with Trump
-
We want US to know we want to end war as quickly as possible, Zelenskyy says
-
Ukraine’s right to self-determination key red line for talks, leaders say
-
Finland’s Stubb calls to form European negotiating team on Ukraine
-
‘No compromises’ in military, intelligence aid for Ukraine, Zelenskyy says, as he rejects Russian demand for halt in support
-
Zelenskyy open to Ukrainian participation in Jeddah talks on Sunday
-
Zelenskyy says he will reach out to Trump today to discuss call with Putin
-
We hope America will continue to pressure Russia, Zelenskyy says
-
Need to increase support for Ukraine and ratchet up pressure on Russia, Stubb says
-
Ukraine has ‘undeniable right’ to defend itself, which ‘cannot be restricted,’ Finland’s Stubb says
-
Russia poses ‘threat for all European nations,’ EU’s Costa says
-
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy meeting with Finland’s Stubb
-
Putin’s demands would make mockery of any peace agreement and unacceptable to Ukraine – analysis
-
Russia ‘attacking civilian infrastructure and people,’ Zelenskyy’s top aide says
-
Russia ‘doesn’t want to make any concessions,’ EU foreign policy chief says
-
Further talks expected on Sunday in Saudi Arabia with sides in ‘relatively short distance to full ceasefire’, US Witkoff says
-
Putin ‘playing a game’ on Ukraine with ‘unacceptable’ push for halting Western military, intelligence support, German defence minister says
-
Morning opening: The (Russian) art of the deal
And that concludes their press conference.
Zelenskyy appears to confirm plans for call with Trump
At the end of the press conference, Zelenskyy is asked to clarify his earlier comments on a potential call with Donald Trump later today.
Smiling, he says “there will be a call, and I will be very brief on this.”
“Everything else will come after the call,” he adds.
We want US to know we want to end war as quickly as possible, Zelenskyy says
Zelenskyy is now asked about the risk of the US turning its back on Ukraine, and he plays its down, saying he is reassured by the restoration of aid after a brief crisis in relations between the two countries.
He says he wants to be “transparent” in Ukrainian diplomacy “so that president Trump and his team, and most importantly, the people of America, could really see and could really know that it is important for us to finish this war as quickly as possible.”
He also thanks Finland to its support throughout the war.
Ukraine’s right to self-determination key red line for talks, leaders say
Zelenskyy gets asked again about Ukraine’s red lines, and he says “the key thing is not to lose independence, the sovereignty of our state and so that never, ever Russia have impact upon the independence of Ukrainians.”
He says that issues such as the role and size of the Ukrainian army is not something up for discussions, similarly to economic guarantees.
He also repeats the earlier line saying that Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine “are temporarily occupied, and they will not be Russian, ever.”
Stubb backs him up, saying “it is only Ukraine that defines its red lines and its negotiating position,” as he stresses that Ukraine “should have the right to choose its own future, its own destiny,” including whether it wants to join the EU and Nato.
He once again pointedly praises Trump, saying he is “a seasoned negotiator” trying to “stop the killing, [establish a] ceasefire,” to open space for further peace talks.
“I think the key in all of this is that Russia should not be able to do this ever again. And that is a red line … about European security,” he says.
Zelenskyy appears to be suggesting that overnight attacks on Ukraine violated Putin’s promise of halting strikes on energy and infrastructure as he lists a number of areas affected by the strikes.
“Only words are insufficient,” he says, as he calls for “a control mechanism” to police the ceasefire, suggesting a role for the US.
He says:
And if we have such an agreement, and we have a list of objects … – a list of civilian objects, energy objects, infrastructural facilities – we will definitely prepare this list and provide it to our partners.
If the Russians do not strike our objects, we will definitely not strike theirs.
Zelenskyy gets asked about the Jeddah meeting on Sunday again, but he says he is “not ready to discuss all the details just yet,” and repeats his earlier line on being ready to send a Ukrainian team for “technical” talks if needed.
He sidesteps a direct question on how he evaluates yesterday’s Trump-Putin call.
Stubb comes in, saying his view was that “of a glass half full,” with “a step in the right direction.” He says that while “we are not there yet” to get a full ceasefire, he pointedly praises US leadership on this issue.
Finland’s Stubb calls to form European negotiating team on Ukraine
Stubb backs Zelenskyy here, saying that “I think historical experience shows that if you portray any form of weakness in the face of Russia, they will use that.”
He praises UK prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron for their leadership on finding a new security arrangement for Ukraine, referencing tomorrow’s meeting of army chiefs in London.
He then goes on to say that just as Ukraine, the US, and Russia have their “extremely capable” negotiating teams, Europe should also be prepared to field its team of negotiators.
“I would like to see the leadership come from countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
So we need to sort of get our act together, to have skin in the game, and I think especially once the ceasefire begins and the actual peace negotiations begin, Europeans know one or two things about peace and should be involved.”
‘No compromises’ in military, intelligence aid for Ukraine, Zelenskyy says, as he rejects Russian demand for halt in support
Zelenskyy gets also asked about the Russian demand to stop military and intelligence aid for Ukraine.
He responds by saying that “nobody can influence the US on … aid to Ukraine, or other countries,” saying it is a personal decision of national leavers.
He goes on to say:
In my opinion, yes, Russia will want our partners to stop helping us, because That would mean weakening Ukrainian positions.
Although that is strange, if you do not plan to continue waging war and you truly want peace, and I’m speaking about Putin now, then why would you fear Ukrainian army? Why would you do all to undermine our military or to weaken the protection of our people?
Zelenskyy says Putin’s call for Ukraine to be deprived of intelligence on planned attacks to help it protect its population “signals [plans] about continuation of the war.”
“I believe that there should be no compromises in the aid to Ukraine. We must strengthen, in contrary, the aid to Ukraine, because that is a signal that Ukraine is ready against any surprises from the Russians,” he says.
Zelenskyy open to Ukrainian participation in Jeddah talks on Sunday
Zelenskyy gets asked if Ukraine will be involved in follow-up talks in Jeddah on Sunday.
He says that he will talks about details only after he has spoken with Trump, but Ukraine is ready to “send our technical team to discuss the next steps.”
“When this meeting is going to be and what is going to be the format of it, I will be able to tell that a bit later,” he says.
Zelenskyy says he will reach out to Trump today to discuss call with Putin
Zelenskyy gets asked if he thinks Ukraine is sufficiently involved in peace talks.
He responds by saying that “next steps cannot be done without us,” as he intends to reach out to US president Donald Trump later today.
“We had a really good meeting in Jeddah between our teams, [and] I think everything was on the right track, except for Russia’s efforts,” he says.
He adds he “will discuss some details of the next steps with him, and I think I can hear the details of his conversation with Putin.”
Stubb joins in with praises for the Ukrainian “first class” diplomatic team involved in talks.
Stubb also picks up that point, saying that “this is such an important moment in international relations and history … because in Europe there has been no serious territorial acquisition of takeover through force [since the second world war], and we do not want that to happen again.”
We hope America will continue to pressure Russia, Zelenskyy says
There were issues with the live interpretation of Zelenskyy’s comments in the first few minutes, so we will get back to his opening statements in a bit.
But he’s now giving his comments on Trump’s efforts to bring about peace, as he says he hopes for an unconditional ceasefire at some point.
“We hope that America will continue to work and pressure Russia … to implement everything,” he says, adding that an unconditional ceasefire would be “one of the initial steps towards peace.”
“I believe that this year, the war can end with a dignified peace, but the security guarantees are definitely needed, otherwise Putin will come with the war again. That is his essence,” he says.
He adds that Ukraine’s red line is the recognition of occupied Ukrainian territories as Russian. “We will not agree to that,” he stresses.
Need to increase support for Ukraine and ratchet up pressure on Russia, Stubb says
Commenting on yesterday’s Trump-Putin talks, Stubb says it was “a step in the right direction,” but he pointedly makes a reference to Russia’s heavily caveated response to all proposals on ceasefire.
There are only two ways to respond to the proposal of the President of the United States. It’s a yes or a no. No buts, no conditions.
Ukraine accepted a ceasefire without any forms of conditions.
If Russia refuses to agree, we need to increase our efforts to strengthen Ukraine and ratchet up pressure on Russia to convince them to come to the negotiating table.
He ends his opening comments assuring Zelenskyy:
We are in this together.
