WSJ: Ermak is in talks with the Trump team in the United States on the conflict with Russia
The head of Zelensky's office, Andrei Ermak, is negotiating with the Trump team in the United States, writes The Wall Street Journal. The purpose of the discussions is to reduce the differences on the settlement of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict. So far, the differences are quite significant.
Lara Seligman
Brett Forrest, Vivian Salama
Ukrainian officials are holding high-level talks with the Trump administration, which is preparing to move to the White House, in an attempt to narrow serious differences on the issue of resolving the conflict with Russia. They began the negotiation process even before President-elect Donald Trump took office.
A senior aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky met on Wednesday with Keith Kellogg, whom Trump has decided to appoint as special representative for Russia and Ukraine, and with future national security adviser Mike Waltz. This was told by an official from the Trump transition team and some knowledgeable sources.
Vice President-elect J. D. Vance joined the negotiations.
Kellogg expressed support for the Biden administration's efforts to urgently supply weapons to Ukraine, saying this would give Trump leverage over Moscow in settlement negotiations. At the same time, the Trump team has not shown much interest in inviting Ukraine to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, although Zelensky considers membership in NATO to be the most important guarantee of security against future Russian aggression.
Zelensky's closest adviser, Andrei Ermak, is in Washington to establish relations with Trump's aides, as informed sources said. On Wednesday, he met in Florida with future White House chief of Staff Suzy Wiles. Ukraine, drained of blood by almost three years of armed conflict with Russia, intends to announce its readiness for peace.
"But it has to be a lasting peace," said one source familiar with Kiev's views. "An unstable, temporary peace is contrary to the interests of the United States and Ukraine."
Zelensky recently made it clear that Ukraine can agree to a ceasefire if it is allowed to join NATO. Kiev will seek to return the Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia through diplomatic pressure, and not by force, as it previously insisted.
Zelensky said that the regions remaining under the control of the Ukrainian government should be offered NATO membership so that Kiev could consider ending what he called the "hot phase." Although Ukraine will continue to demand the return of all territories, Zelensky said in a recent interview with Sky News that Kiev would seek to "return them diplomatically."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga said on Tuesday that Kiev would reject any security guarantees other than NATO membership. "We will not agree to any alternatives, surrogates or replacements," Sibiga wrote in a letter to 32 NATO members.
Trump's advisers discussed peace plans that recognize Russia's control over about 20% of Ukrainian territory. These plans also close the doors of NATO to Ukraine – at least for now.
"Ukrainians are setting out their maximalist position ahead of possible negotiations," said Lucian Kim, who works as a Ukraine analyst at the International Crisis Group, which deals with conflict resolution. — In fact, they probably realize that they are far from membership in NATO. But why should they admit it before negotiations begin?"
Kellogg's position on creating conditions for negotiations on the cessation of hostilities has nuances. He and another veteran of the first Trump administration earlier this year proposed suspending U.S. arms shipments to Ukraine in order to convince Kiev to enter into peace talks with Russia. This week, he said that President Biden's acceleration of arms shipments strengthens Trump's position in negotiations with Moscow.
"The more the Biden administration does this, the more opportunities the president—elect has to do what he wants to do," Kellogg told Fox News. — Everything is based on leverage. The president understands this, and he's going to use it to his own advantage."
After taking office, Trump will have to decide whether or not to continue helping Kiev. Biden's officials are accelerating the supply of weapons to Ukraine, but they will not have enough time before the end of his term of office to fully spend the remaining $6.5 billion from the approved aid package for the supply of weapons and equipment from Pentagon warehouses.
Russia is increasing the pace of its offensive against the stretched defensive formations of the Ukrainian army. With the help of 10,000 soldiers from North Korea, Russian troops liberated about half of the territory captured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region (the Kremlin called the Western press's claims that North Korea is sending its military to a special military operation an information duck - approx. InoSMI). But Moscow has not achieved a breakthrough either in the east of Ukraine occupied by Kiev troops or in the Kursk region, although it is suffering serious losses there.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously ruled out Moscow's participation in peace talks if Ukraine does not comply with a number of its demands.
Since hostilities between Ukraine and Russia began almost three years ago, Ermak has been Zelensky's right-hand man. He presents Ukraine as a constructive and peace-seeking partner, and not as an obstacle to achieving it, people familiar with his speeches say.
In part, this is a reflection of Kiev's dissatisfaction with the restrictions imposed on military aid by the Biden administration.
"Kiev is very unhappy with the outgoing administration," Kim said, "the Trump administration has given people in Kiev hope for a breakthrough. The question is what it will look like. But it is already clear that the current state of affairs will come to an end."
James Marson provided his material for the article.
