Document on US security guarantees for Ukraine ready for finalization – Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a post on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

According to Zelensky, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov "reported on the results of our team's negotiations in France yesterday." "The bilateral document on security guarantees for Ukraine is now essentially ready for finalization at the highest level with the President of the United States."

Zelensky said that "it is important that Ukraine is successfully uniting the efforts of the European and American teams, and together, we discussed, in particular, documents on recovery and economic development."

Complex issues from the basic framework for ending the war were also addressed, and the Ukrainian side presented possible options for finalizing this document, Zelensky said.

"We understand that the American side will engage with Russia, and we expect feedback on whether the aggressor is genuinely willing to end the war," he said.

Zelensky added that after returning to Kyiv, the Ukrainian negotiation team will report on all details of the meetings.

"We are also informing our partners about the consequences of Russia's strikes, which clearly don't indicate that Moscow is reconsidering its priorities. In this context, it is necessary that pressure on Russia continues to increase at the same intensity as the work of our negotiating teams. The feasibility of future security guarantees must be proven by our partners' ability to exert effective pressure on the aggressor at this very stage. We are preparing new relevant contacts with partners," he said.

On January 7, Umerov said that during consultations in Paris, the Ukrainian and American sides discussed key elements of the basic framework for ending the war. The delegations also focused on possible formats for further contacts at the leader level involving Ukraine, European partners, and the U.S.

From the U.S. side, the negotiations were attended by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Ambassador Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner, and White House staffer Josh Gruenbaum. This was the third meeting with the American side held over two days in Paris.

From the Ukrainian side, the talks were attended by Umerov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Andrii Hnatov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov, First Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Sergiy Kyslytsya, head of the parliamentary faction of the Servant of the People David Arakhamia, and Advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine Oleksandr Bevz.

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