KYIV: Ukrainian negotiators will meet US officials on Thursday to discuss post-war reconstruction, including a “prosperity package,” ahead of a new round of trilateral talks with Russia expected in March, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Zelensky said the US wanted to find a way to end as soon as possible Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two. But Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart in their positions.
“In my opinion, the difficulties are not at the military level right now. The problem lies in the political will to end this war and in the issue of territories,” Zelensky told a joint news conference with visiting Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.
“I think that trilateral talks will be held in early March. Tomorrow, economic documents will be prepared at a bilateral meeting between Ukraine and the United States.”
Zelensky also said that Russian claims on Tuesday that
Kyiv was trying to obtain nuclear weapons were an attempt to exert political pressure on Ukraine during the ongoing talks.
He reiterated that Ukraine had no nuclear weapons and called on the US to react to what he described as dangerous rhetoric by Russia.
UKRAINIAN, US TEAMS TO MEET IN GENEVA
Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, and head of Ukraine’s negotiating team, will meet in Geneva on Thursday with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. Proceeding with the reconstruction of Ukraine after the destruction wrought by Russian aerial strikes and frontline combat has become a major element in broader talks on how to end the war, which entered its fifth year this week.
Kyiv hopes to attract about $800 billion of public and private funds over the next 10 years to rebuild the country. The latest assessment from the World Bank released on Monday showed that rebuilding Ukraine’s economy will cost an estimated $588 billion. The assessment is based on data from February 24, 2022, through December 31, 2025.
Ukrainian officials are pitching Ukraine as a future European Union member and a lucrative investment destination but any funds depend on a ceasefire and a peace deal that remain elusive.
Zelensky said Ukrainian and US negotiators would also discuss on Thursday the details of prisoner-of-war exchanges between Ukraine and Russia.
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met last week in Geneva for their third US-mediated meeting so far this year but failed to reach any breakthrough on key sticking points, including territory.
Russia says Ukraine must cede the final 20 percent of the industrialized and heavily fortified eastern region of Donetsk that it still controls. Ukraine says it will not relinquish territory that thousands have died to defend.
