American officials held hours-long talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin, with the main topic of the talks being a peace deal, and the US is putting pressure on Kyiv to reach a peaceful settlement by the end of the year. However, there are significant disagreements between Washington and Kyiv, in particular over the issue of control over the territories in the Donbas. This is reported by The Wall Street Journal.
As noted, the discussions between Ukraine and its Western partners now resemble a "tug-of-war", despite the fact that russia is not involved in them.
The United States is pushing for quick solutions, but President Zelenskyy and Kyiv's European supporters believe there are important differences that need to be resolved.
The talks are due to continue on Monday, December 15. Several European leaders are expected to join them.
Among the main sticking points is Ukraine's refusal to support Washington's call for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from certain areas of eastern Donbas. Ukrainian and European officials insist on clear guarantees and a definition of US steps in case russia violates the peace agreements or repeats its aggression against Ukraine.
These topics will be key during the talks in Berlin.
After the meetings ended late in the evening, US Special Representative Steve Witkoff said that the parties had discussed the proposed peace plan in detail.
"Substantial progress has been made and talks will continue in the morning," he said.
At the same time, a source familiar with the Berlin talks described them as tense, noting that the American side is probably not in the mood to make concessions on its own draft peace agreement.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the President released photos of greetings from US delegates in Berlin. Zelenskyy greeted and hugged US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff warmly, and was more reserved with Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner
On the eve of the meeting, Zelenskyy compared the process of ending the war to "running a long distance," emphasizing Ukraine's readiness for "Plan B".
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