“The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump,” Ukraine’s president said.
The United States has tied its offer of security guarantees for a Ukraine peace deal to Kyiv’s giving up its entire eastern Donbas region to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
“The Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas,” Zelenskyy told Reuters, warning the move would hand Russia key defensive positions and weaken Ukrainian — and European — security in the long term.
“The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump … [he] still chooses a strategy to put more pressure on the Ukrainian side,” Zelenskyy added, pointing to what he saw as a shift in Washington’s focus.
Ceding the Donbas was part of a contentious 28-point plan the U.S. presented to both Kyiv and Moscow last year. Under that plan, Ukraine would hold elections within 100 days of the end of the war.
Zelenskyy said Russia is betting that Washington will lose interest in negotiations as the war in Ukraine grinds on, with Moscow continuing to make slow gains in the east of the country.
Talks on U.S. security guarantees that Ukraine wants in order to agree on a peace deal are ongoing, but Zelenskyy said this week that more work is needed before any agreement is finalized.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zelenskyy also thanked Washington for maintaining deliveries of Patriot air defense systems despite competing demand from countries in the Middle East, but warned that supplies remain insufficient as Ukraine endures sustained Russian bombardment.
Joe Stanley-Smith and Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.