Russia-Ukraine Negotiations

The United States and several key allies, including the United Kingdom, are actively debating how strongly to commit to Ukraine’s NATO membership at the alliance’s upcoming 75th anniversary summit in Washington, with the US facing criticism from a variety of European countries for not being willing to go as far as several – especially those close to Russia’s border – would like, according to multiple US and European sources familiar with the discussions. US and German officials have proposed that the alliance pledge during next month’s summit that Ukraine has a “bridge” to NATO membership, rather than an “irreversible path” as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in April in language that is favored by the UK and several Eastern and Central European nations, multiple sources familiar with the discussions told CNN...

Two key advisers to Donald Trump have presented him with a plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine - if he wins the Nov. 5 presidential election - that involves telling Ukraine it will only get more U.S. weapons if it enters peace talks. The United States would at the same time warn Moscow that any refusal to negotiate would result in increased U.S. support for Ukraine, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, one of Trump's national security advisers, said in an interview. Under the plan drawn up by Kellogg and Fred Fleitz, who both served as chiefs of staff in Trump's National Security Council during his 2017-2021 presidency, there would be a ceasefire based on prevailing battle lines during peace talks, Fleitz said...

The fleet of helicopters began to arrive at the Swiss resort around noon on June 15, shuttling world leaders toward the top of a mountain range speckled with grazing cows and wildflowers. The event had been sold to them as a global peace summit, the start of a process that would end the Russian war against Ukraine. But Russia and its allies, notably China, would not be represented. Instead, the Ukrainians would run the show, with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the starring role and his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, the impresario...

Donald Trump has repeatedly said he could settle the war between Russia and Ukraine in one day if he’s elected president again. Russia’s United Nations ambassador says he can’t. When asked to respond to the claim from the presumptive Republican nominee, Vassily Nebenzia told reporters Monday that “the Ukrainian crisis cannot be solved in one day”...

Ukraine is not ready to compromise with Russia and give up any territory to end the war, a senior Ukrainian official said on Tuesday when asked about U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's declaration that he could quickly end the conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, told reporters during a visit to Washington that Kyiv would listen to any advice on how to achieve a "just peace" in the war...

Ukraine will be told it is currently too corrupt to join Nato, in a major blow to Volodymyr Zelensky. The alliance will request “additional steps” from Kyiv before membership talks progress, a senior official in the US State Department said. The position will be set out in writing in the Nato communique to be signed at the alliance’s annual summit on July 9...

NATO leaders will unveil new steps to train and arm Ukraine at an alliance summit this week but will stop short of concrete advances toward its membership in the Western bloc, underscoring questions about how Kyiv can prevail in its grinding war against Russia... Officials were still racing to finalize the summit’s communiqué on Monday, the eve of the summit. The latest proposal would offer Ukraine an “irreversible” path toward NATO membership, but it would also include extensive language about the need for Kyiv to make anti-corruption and good governance reforms before it can join, nine officials familiar with the conversations said, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations...

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he aimed to have a plan ready in November to enable Kyiv to hold a second international summit on his vision of peace in Ukraine, and that representatives of Russia should attend... A Russian deputy foreign minister said last week that Moscow would not attend a follow-up summit. The Kremlin has been less categorical and said there was "no precise substance" regarding the idea of a second summit...

There is increasing talk of peace negotiations with Russia in Ukraine. So far, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has always rejected any possible agreements with Russia's current leadership and even issued a decree ruling out talks with President Vladimir Putin. But the situation could be changing. Zelenskyy has even said that Russian representatives should attend the second "peace summit" that Ukraine plans to hold in November. According to a survey conducted by the Razumkov Center, a Ukrainian think tank, on behalf of the Ukrainian online newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia (zn.ua), 44% of Ukrainians in areas behind the frontline believe that it is time to start official talks between Kyiv and Moscow; 35% believe that there is no reason to start peace talks and 21% are undecided...