A senior Ukrainian official says that Kiev is not yet ready for talks with Russia

(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s chief of staff said in an interview broadcast on Thursday that Kiev is not yet ready to start negotiations with Russia because it lacks the weapons, security guarantees and international status it has sought.

Andrii Jermak’s comments to public broadcaster Suspilna come at a time when Zelensky is publicly considering the possibility of a negotiated solution to the war with Russia, which was triggered by Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

“Not yet today,” Yermak told Suspilne, when asked if Ukraine is ready to start negotiations.

“We don’t have weapons, we don’t have the status we’re talking about.” And that means an invitation to NATO and an understanding of the clear guarantees they would give us, so that we can be sure that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will not return in two or three years.

In comments this week alongside German opposition leader Friedrich Merz, Zelensky said Ukraine wants an end to the war and that efforts are needed to make his country stronger and for the Kremlin to commit to working for peace.

In recent public statements, the president also said talks could take place with Russia, which still holds territory it seized in the invasion.

But Ukraine, he said, needed an invitation to the entire country to join NATO, although the status of the Alliance would refer to the territory controlled by the authorities in Kiev and real security guarantees had to be established.

While in Paris last week, Zelensky met with newly elected US President Donald Trump, who said, without elaborating, that he wanted the war to end quickly.

Russia has long rejected any idea of ​​Ukraine becoming a NATO member, and Putin said Kiev had to accept the Kremlin’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions it only partially controls.