Translated with AI
At a meeting in Berlin between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Stephen Witkoff, "significant progress" was made toward ending hostilities. Witkoff himself announced this in a post on the social media site X on Sunday, December 14.
Consultations between the American and Ukrainian delegations on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine lasted more than five hours. Also participating in the meeting was Jared Kushner, adviser to the US president and Donald Trump's son-in-law.
The two sides "held in-depth discussions" on the 20-point peace plan, economic issues, and other topics, Wittkoff said in a statement.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was also present at the start of the discussions, but then left the meeting, leaving his representative behind. "We want lasting peace in Ukraine," Merz wrote on the social media site X. "We face difficult issues, but we are determined to move forward," he added.
Consultations will continue on December 15. European heads of state and government, as well as the leaders of the European Union and NATO, will join the talks that evening, AFP reported.
Reuters previously reported that, answering journalists' questions in a WhatsApp chat, the Ukrainian president stated that the peace proposals would contain compromises. Specifically, Kyiv is prepared to accept legally binding security guarantees from the US, European, and other partners in lieu of NATO membership.
Furthermore, on December 14, Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a freeze on hostilities along the current front line "a fair option." Russia had previously repeatedly demanded that Kyiv withdraw Ukrainian troops even from those parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that the Russian Armed Forces had failed to capture.
