Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Berlin and met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Chancellery ahead of another round of talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine, a dpa journalist reported on Sunday.
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Earlier, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, also arrived in Berlin. The two were seen entering a central Berlin hotel on Sunday morning.
Discussions are expected to be held between the US delegation, Ukrainian officials and representatives of the major European powers.
The initial talks are expected to take place at an adviser level and behind closed doors. It is not yet publicly known what concrete proposals are currently on the table.
Speaking to Ukrainian journalists, Zelensky said he had not received reaction from the United States on his latest proposals for changes to Trump’s peace plan.
He acknowledged that a peace plan would not please all sides, but insisted that Ukraine was in a strong negotiating position.
He referred to security guarantees for Ukraine, given that not all sides supported Ukraine’s membership of NATO.
Also arriving in Berlin was US General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s top general in Europe.
Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the beginning of the month. During the meeting, Putin suggested readiness for further talks but stressed that Russia had the strategic initiative and would pursue its war aims by force in the absence of an agreement.
Kremlin takes a negative view of Berlin meeting
Meanwhile, speaking to Russian state television, Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide, said Russia expected little good to come out of the Berlin talks.
Contributions from Ukraine and European powers to Trump’s peace plan “will scarcely be constructive,” Ushakov said in remarks recorded on Friday but broadcast on Sunday.
“Therein lies the problem,” he said, while highlighting Russian confidence that the US side comprehends the Russian position.
Ushakov made clear that Russia would not retract its territorial demands, including that Kiev withdraw fully from those parts of the two eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk that Russian forces have not yet occupied.
“The issue of the territories was actively discussed as a whole in Moscow,” Ushakov said in reference to the five-hour talks in the Russian capital between Witkoff and Putin at the beginning of the month. “The Americans not only know our position, but also comprehend it,” he said.
Moscow remained unaware of what the Ukrainians and their European allies were planning, Ushakov said, adding: “It will scarcely be anything good.”
He insisted that Zelensky’s dreams of NATO membership for Ukraine and retaking the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 had no chance of realization.
Ukraine has been warding off a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022.
Diplomatic flurry in Berlin
According to dpa reporters, former defence minister Rustem Umerov and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov were among the Ukrainians in uniform and civilian clothes who arrived in Berlin in the morning and were welcomed at the Chancellery by Günter Sautter, Merz’s adviser on foreign and security policy.
The US delegation, which also includes Witkoff, initially held talks in a Berlin hotel in the morning.
At his meeting in Berlin with Witkoff, Zelensky primarily aims to discuss his latest proposals on Trump’s peace plan.
Trump issued a 28-point peace plan in late November that unsettled Kiev and its allies because it echoed many of the Kremlin’s positions.
Zelensky has since floated a 20-point counter-proposal, but huge obstacles remain, from his refusal to surrender territory to his insistence on firm US security guarantees if a deal is struck.
Further talks expected in Berlin on Monday
Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Trump on the phone about the situation in Ukraine on Wednesday.
Merz said on Thursday that he had “taken away the firm impression from the phone call with Trump that he is prepared to go down this path with [Europe] because he knows that the Europeans must also be heard here with their own interests.”
Berlin will remain the stage for negotiations on Monday.
Merz and Zelensky plan to consult with other top Western politicians, including Macron and Starmer, as well as EU and NATO leaders in the evening.
By dpa correspondents
