Ukraine, US to hold talks next week about ending the war, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday his country will hold talks with the U.S. about ending the war against Russia next week.
In his nightly address at a conference of European leaders, Zelenskyy said he would travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday and his team would stay there to hold talks with U.S. officials.
“Ukraine is most interested in peace,” Zelenskyy said. “As we told President Trump, Ukraine is working and will work exclusively constructively for a quick and reliable peace.”
European Union leaders are holding emergency talks about ways to quickly increase their military budgets after the Trump administration signaled that Europe must take care of its own security and also suspended assistance to Ukraine.
The 27 European leaders signed off on a move to loosen budget restrictions so that willing EU countries can increase their military spending. They also urged the European Commission to explore new ways “to facilitate significant defense spending at national level in all Member States,” a statement said.
The EU’s executive branch estimates that around 650 billion euros ($702 billion) could be freed up in this way.
The leaders also took note of a European Commission offer of a loan package worth 150 billion euros ($162 billion) to buy new military equipment and invited EU headquarters staff “to examine this proposal as a matter of urgency.”
In his speech Thursday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine “is not only ready to take the necessary steps for peace, but we are also proposing what those steps are.”
Russia can demonstrate that it’s serious about peace, he said, by ceasing attacks on Ukraine’s energy and civilian infrastructure as well as halting military operations in the Black Sea, and it could also release prisoners of war.
Still, he said “any truce and any form of trust building measures can only be a prologue to a full and fair settlement, to a comprehensive agreement on security guarantees and an end to the war.”