Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov commented on the state of peace negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and the United States. According to him, the process is ongoing, but it is extremely complex.
Kyrylo Budanov reported this in response to a question from a Suspilny correspondent at a meeting of CEO Club Ukraine.
Kirill Budanov explained that the complexity is due to three factors: the war has been going on for 12 years, it is the largest and bloodiest in the world in terms of human and financial losses, and it is also “one of the most complex geopolitical issues, where the interests of the US, the EU, Russia, and China intersect.”
“Therefore, it is absolutely unrealistic to resolve this issue just like that. At the same time, to say that peace negotiations have no meaning and have no prospects would also be untrue. And I sincerely hope that we will be able to achieve something in the end. Have we achieved it now? No, we haven't. Can we achieve it? I think we can, at least I hope so,” commented Kyrylo Budanov.
Kyrylo Budanov also reported that Ukraine hopes for the arrival of an American delegation to Kyiv to continue peace negotiations.
“This is the predicted next step that we were counting on, which, by the way, may not happen, but we hope for it… Don't look at the process – you should be interested in the result. You will definitely find out the results,” Budanov said.
On March 30, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not believe that the peace talks had reached a dead end, and expressed hope that a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the United States, and Russia would take place in the coming weeks.
On March 27, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is holding daily negotiations with the American side regarding the organization of the negotiation process, but due to difficulties in determining the venue for them, Kyiv is actually forced to act as a “mediator in this process.”
Bilateral talks between the US and Ukraine in Florida on March 21-22
Recall that on March 21 and 22, negotiations between the US and Ukrainian delegations took place in Miami as part of Washington's efforts to reach a peace agreement. The Ukrainian delegation, led by Umerov, arrived in Miami on the morning of March 21. In addition to him, it included: the head of the OPU Kyrylo Budanov and his first deputy Serhiy Kyslytsia, as well as the head of the “Servant of the People” parliamentary faction, David Arakhamia.
Following the results of the first day of negotiations, Zelenskyy reported that the Ukrainian delegation held a meeting with representatives of US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
The head of the Ukrainian negotiating team and Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov, reported that special attention during the meeting with the Americans was paid to “coordinating approaches for further progress towards practical results.”
The Kremlin previously stated that the Russian side would not participate in another peace track regarding the conditions for ending the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine in the United States.
Following the results of the second day of negotiations, on March 22, Umerov reported that the Ukrainian delegation during the meetings focused on the issues of reliable security guarantees and the humanitarian track, in particular the exchange and return of Ukrainian citizens.
On the same day, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that he had heard a report from the Ukrainian delegation and noted that there were signals about a possible continuation of exchanges, adding that “this would be really very good news and confirmation that diplomacy works.”
On March 23, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said that the talks were “constructive” and “focused on key issues of defining a sustainable and credible security system for Ukraine, as well as on extremely important humanitarian efforts in the region.”