Zelenskiy seeks concrete western commitments before Ukraine peace deal

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said his government is looking for specific guarantees from western allies on how postwar security support would function when the nearly five-year war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of his nation finally ends.

Zelenskiy’s comments in an interview came after two days of discussions among allies concluded in Brussels that focused on postwar security and reconstruction, and days before planned three-way talks next week in Abu Dhabi between Ukraine, Russia and the United States.

These talks will be the first trilateral peace discussions since February.

While talks on the contours of peace continue, the grim reality of war remained front and centre on Friday in Ukraine, with more Russian drone attacks and a rising death toll from Moscow’s guided bomb strike on Monday on a former school operating as a humanitarian aid distribution centre.

Two days of talks in Brussels discussed postwar reconstruction, funding for 2027 and security guarantees backed by the Ukrainian government’s western allies.

The meetings brought together officials from the US, UK, France, Germany and the European Union, along with representatives from the World Bank and the US investment group BlackRock, Ukrainian lead negotiator Rustem Umerov wrote in an online post.

“We separately discussed the threats from Russia to Ukraine and all of Europe, as well as joint steps to counter them,” Umerov wrote.

In his television interview, Zelenskiy said he wants to see tangible results.

“What matters is that it’s clear on paper,” Zelenskiy said. “The question isn’t dozens of points, but simply an understanding of the outcome: If Russia starts (attacking) again, what will happen? Who will do what, with what means, and when? Those answers have to be clear, above all, to us Ukrainians.”

Zelenskiy said it was important to maintain bipartisan support for Kyiv in the US but acknowledged Democrats’ sweeping victories in this week’s midterm elections could have a positive effect on US assistance, including the faster delivery of Patriot missile interceptors that Kyiv says are vital to fend off Russian air strikes.

“I believe our chances of getting additional assistance from the United States may now grow,” he said.

US president Donald Trump met on Thursday with Moscow envoy Kirill Dmitriev but declined to give details of what they discussed.

“There’s going to be an agreement, it’s going to be a big agreement and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine,” Trump said, adding that it might include all of Europe.

Trump, who has long boasted he could quickly broker an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, has lately blamed Zelenskiy for refusing to make concessions to end the conflict. Trump did not meet on Thursday with visiting Ukrainian officials who also were on hand for a ceremony in Washington with first lady Melania Trump.

Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner, said in a social media message that the goal of the Brussels talks was to “develop practical arrangements that address the security concerns of all sides, reduce the risk of future conflict and create a more stable and predictable security environment”.

The death toll from a Russian bomb attack this week on a shelter and a former school now being used as an aid distribution centre rose to 53 after more bodies were recovered from the rubble, Mykhailo Semikin, acting head of the region’s military administration, said in an online post.

Ten powerful guided bombs destroyed the facility at Komyshuvakha, a village in southeast Ukraine. Several dozen people are still believed to be missing after what was one of the deadliest attacks in the region in nearly five years of fighting.

Russian drones struck five districts of Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region more than 10 times overnight, regional administrator Oleksandr Hanzha said. They damaged storage facilities, homes, cars and a sports complex.

Officials in the central region of Kirovohrad said three people were wounded when a drone struck a private residence and started a fire.

The air force said Russia launched 227 attack drones, including 86 jet-powered ones, with strikes reported at 14 locations and falling debris at eight more. Overall, Ukraine’s air defences shot down or suppressed 196 Russian drones overnight into Friday.

Russia’s ministry of defence said on Friday that it shot down 142 Ukrainian drones overnight. - AP