As he arrived for crucial peace talks in Berlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a “dignified” peace for his country.
Zelenskyy’s December 14-15 negotiations with US envoys and European leaders are aimed at ending the nearly four-year war in Ukraine, which has become the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.
Ahead of the talks, Russia intensified its attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure as disagreements over territorial control and security guarantees persist. Moscow has downplayed the significance of the Berlin talks.
“The plan is not going to be something everyone likes,” Zelenskyy told journalists ahead of the talks. “There are, of course, many compromises in one form of the plan or another.”
Zelenskyy said he has not heard back from Washington about his proposed amendments to the 28-point US peace plan unveiled last month, which critics say heavily favors Russia.
“Ukraine needs peace on dignified terms, and we are ready to work as constructively as possible,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “The coming days will be filled with diplomacy. It is critically important that it delivers results.”
The agenda for the Berlin meetings is vague. But US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are due to attend.
The presence of Witkoff — who has led negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow on a US peace proposal — at the talks is a signal that Washington expects some chance of progress toward ending the nearly four-year war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Yet there is little indication that Russia will reciprocate Ukraine’s flexibility. Speaking to Russian state TV on December 14, Yuri Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide, said the proposed changes to the US peace plan “will hardly be constructive.”
Russia, Ukraine Continue Strikes
As the diplomacy to end the war hastened, attacks continued in Ukraine and Russia.
A Russian drone attack on a shopping center in Zaporizhzhya wounded six people, including a child and a rescuer.
The Ukrainian General Staff said its drone attacks hit a Russian oil depot in Uriupinsk, Volgograd region, and an oil refinery in Afipsky, Krasnodar region.
Zelenskyy said the Russians launched more than 1,500 attack drones, nearly 900 guided aerial bombs, and 46 missiles of various types against Ukraine this week.
“Russia is dragging out the war and seeks to inflict as much harm as possible on our people,” he said.
Meanwhile, on December 13, Ukraine accused Russia of hitting a Turkish ship transporting sunflower oil in the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andriy Sybiha, said Russia’s attack was “an attack on the freedom of navigation and global food security.”
