UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to resume talks in Berlin on Monday with envoys of U.S. President Donald Trump, after the American side said “a lot of progress” had been made towards ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since the Second World War.
Reuters reported on Monday that Zelenskiy will again meet U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, following five hours of talks on Sunday. The discussions are taking place alongside a flurry of meetings involving European leaders in the German capital.
Ukraine said on Sunday that it was prepared to abandon its long-held ambition to join the NATO alliance in exchange for Western security guarantees. However, it remained unclear how far negotiations had advanced on that issue or on other core questions, including the future of Ukrainian territory and the prospects of persuading Russia to accept a ceasefire.
The talks mark the start of a critical week for European diplomacy. An EU summit on Thursday is expected to decide whether the bloc can underwrite a massive loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian central bank assets.
Europe has come under sustained criticism from the Trump administration over migration policy, defence spending and regulation of major technology firms, with the European Union and national governments struggling to present a unified response.
EU foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels on Monday to discuss a new package of sanctions against Russia, though the prospect of a last-minute snag in negotiations over an EU trade deal with Latin America threatened to weaken efforts to project unity.
“We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that Ukraine can achieve the best possible negotiating position and, in the event of failure, that it has all the necessary means to retaliate against this war of aggression,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told Deutschlandfunk radio.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who has played a prominent role in the diplomatic effort, struck a cautiously optimistic tone ahead of his meeting with Zelenskiy on Monday morning, prior to the renewed U.S. talks.
“I think we are at a critical moment in negotiations for peace,” Stubb told the Dutch television programme Buitenhof on Sunday.
“And at the same time, we’re probably closer to a peace agreement than we have been at any time during these four years,” he said. Stubb also met Kushner in Berlin on Sunday evening.
Stubb said negotiators were working on three main documents: a framework for a 20-point peace plan, a second text focused on security guarantees for Ukraine, and a third covering the country’s reconstruction.
“So we’re looking at the details together with the Americans, Europeans, and the Ukrainians,” he added.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the leaders of Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden were among those expected to be in Berlin on Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine formally renounce its NATO ambitions and withdraw its forces from roughly 10% of the eastern Donbas region that remains under Kyiv’s control. Moscow has also insisted that Ukraine adopt permanent neutrality and that no NATO troops be stationed on its territory.
Russian sources earlier this year said Putin wanted a “written” pledge from major Western powers not to expand the U.S.-led NATO alliance eastwards, effectively ruling out membership for Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned on Monday that conceding Donbas to Russia would not satisfy the Kremlin’s ambitions.
“We have to understand that if he gets Donbas, then the fortress is down and then they definitely move on to taking the whole of Ukraine,” Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, told reporters.
“If Ukraine goes, then other regions are also in danger.” - December 15, 2025
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