Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to address the “most sensitive” issues in a 20-point peace plan to end the nearly four-year war.
In remarks to the Ukrainian online newspaper European Pravda published on Tuesday, Sybiha said his country is looking to sign the peace plan under discussion since November last year provided that the deal is agreed upon while noting that the “most sensitive” issues have yet to be resolved, namely territories and the operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
“It is precisely to resolve them that the president is ready to meet with Putin and discuss this,” Sybiha said, expressing that he does not see the need to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, arguing they “should not create parallel tracks.”
“There are negotiating teams that include representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and creating additional tracks is not timely and unnecessary,” he said.
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Commenting on talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi last week, Sybiha said there is progress in negotiations to end the conflict, due to which the trilateral talks took place.
He confirmed that bilateral discussions also took place in Abu Dhabi, describing the negotiations as “very complex,” and noted that the conversations held were “very focused.”
He also said that a separate track of negotiations took place involving military representatives from both sides, noting there were “substantive” discussions on the parametres of a ceasefire and on how such a halt to hostilities would be monitored or verified.