Ukraine has confirmed its readiness to participate in the next round of trilateral negotiations with the Russian Federation mediated by Azerbaijan. This was announced by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, during a joint press conference with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in Baku.
This is reported by Finway
Peace initiatives and Azerbaijan’s role
Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the importance of peace efforts and noted that Ukraine highly values the role of its partners in the negotiation process. He stressed that Russia must find the strength to end the war and highlighted the support for mediation from Azerbaijan.
“I shared with the President of Azerbaijan that we are ready for trilateral negotiations. We had such negotiations in Turkey, in Switzerland. We are ready for such negotiations in Azerbaijan if Russia is ready for diplomacy,” the President added.
It was also reported that six cooperation documents have been signed between Ukraine and Azerbaijan concerning security and the defense industry. More detailed information about these agreements will be published later.
Negotiations with the USA and demands regarding Donbas
In a comment to CNN, Zelensky noted that technical negotiations with the United States are ongoing, but he does not see the possibility of a personal meeting until the issue of Iran is resolved. The President pointed out that one American team is negotiating both the war in Iran and the situation in Ukraine, complicating the process. Zelensky urged not to postpone the issue of Ukraine and emphasized that the country is already experiencing a tragedy that requires immediate response.
Earlier, in an interview with Reuters, Zelensky stated that the United States made it a condition for providing security guarantees to Ukraine to withdraw Ukrainian troops from Donbas. At the same time, the special representative of the Russian president, Kirill Dmitriev, positively assessed Zelensky’s position, stating that only under this condition could the USA provide security guarantees to Ukraine. However, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied the claim about such a condition, and Zelensky responded that he had only disclosed part of the information.
It is worth noting that in January and February, several rounds of trilateral negotiations involving Ukraine, the USA, and Russia took place, but their specific results were not disclosed. After the meeting on February 5, the parties reached an agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war – the first time in five months. Due to the escalation of the situation in the Middle East, these negotiations were postponed, but Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized that the process has not reached a deadlock.