Zelensky: “Next time, Europe won’t be in the next room, but at the negotiating table”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returned to Kyiv from Dublin on 13 November. On the same day, he met with a number of journalists, including those from Il Foglio, to whom he outlined the results of the negotiations held in Abu Dhabi between Ukraine, Russia and the United States. For Ukraine, the key issues addressed at those talks were a truce on the energy front, the reopening of the Black Sea, the release of prisoners and the preparation of a trilateral meeting between the leaders (Zelensky, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin) to bring the war to an end.

"On certain issues, the Russians said they did not have a mandate," says Zelensky. The only issue discussed in depth was that of the prisoner exchange. “The ambitious goal was an ‘all-for-all’ exchange, or at least the exchange of a large number of people,” says the president. The U.S. negotiators took this proposal to Moscow, to Putin. There, they managed to agree on the exchange of over a thousand people (roughly between 1,200 and 1,300).

For the Americans, however, the most important aspect was not so much the concrete results as the resumption of the trilateral negotiation process, which had not met for nine months. The Americans, however, have finally heeded the Ukrainians’ request to include Europe in this format. “Next time, Europe will not be in the next room, as was the case in Abu Dhabi, but will sit at the same negotiating table,” Zelensky assures us. Moscow has accepted this proposal. The president has asked European leaders to decide by the end of November who will form part of the European negotiating delegation. “There will probably be three, four or five people, representing Europe as a whole,” he predicts.

For the time being, the Russian side does not wish to discuss a truce on the energy front. And the same applies to any ceasefire. “The Russians said: ‘Discuss it with Putin’,” reports Zelensky. The Ukrainian negotiating delegation replied that this is precisely why it is proposing a meeting at leader level. In the end, the parties agreed that the American delegation would go to Putin to discuss the matter directly with him. But no progress was made. “Putin himself does not support the ceasefire,” the president notes.

Another issue raised by the American side concerns a different security architecture in the world and in Europe following the war. Zelensky believes this could be a dangerous discussion. “It is precisely issues of this kind that lead to wars and escalations,” warns the Ukrainian leader, cautioning the United States and Europe. According to Zelensky, the order of events should be as follows: a ceasefire, an end to the war in Ukraine, and security guarantees for Ukraine. “You cannot turn everything on its head and start talking about changes to the global security architecture, only to address the end of this war at a later stage,” he argues.

In this regard, he recalls that in 2021 Putin had put forward precisely this idea to Joseph Biden: a redistribution of the balance of power in Europe and the world, involving the weakening or withdrawal of American troops from certain NATO countries. “Russia certainly cannot make decisions on behalf of the nations that are part of NATO,” says Zelensky. As for the territorial issue, the president states that he has repeatedly told the Americans that Ukraine will not withdraw and will not cede its territory to terrorists.

According to his account, for the first time the Americans responded to this position with a question: “And if Ukraine were to join NATO, would it be prepared to withdraw from the Donbass?”. Zelensky believes these discussions are too abstract and that Russia is unlikely to accept such a solution. He is currently discussing four specific issues with his partners: “If the Americans confirm all this to us, together with the other NATO partners, then I will ask the public: do we accept it or not?”, the president states. To reach this point, however, concrete proposals are needed, which are still lacking at present. "My question to the Americans is: if you provide us with something 'similar' to NATO, will there be American soldiers on our territory?" Their reply was: "No." But then, Zelensky asks, what exactly do security guarantees "similar to Article 5" and "analogous to those of NATO" mean? The president wants to see clear and precise points.

Apart from the prisoner exchange, there has been no progress whatsoever in the negotiations. Volodymyr Zelensky believes that Russia will be willing to take more realistic measures once the US Congress approves a substantial support package for Ukraine. “The package could comprise two elements: sanctions and weapons,” he explains. The president recalls the meeting he had in the autumn of 2024 with Donald Trump, then a candidate for the US presidency, at Trump Tower. On that occasion, he presented him with the “Plan for Victory”, telling him: “If you give us this and that, you’ll see that Putin will sit down at the negotiating table.” Zelensky believes the time has come to return to discussions on Ukraine’s military strengthening, as this could influence the situation. If Ukraine becomes much stronger, in fact, Russia will find it preferable to pursue a diplomatic solution. “Putin must understand this rationale,” concludes Zelensky.