Ukraine has hit back at Vladimir Putin after the Russian dictator suggested “redrawing Europe’s security order” in exchange for peace.
According to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump’s negotiation team raised the possibility of a new security framework across Europe this week amid a fresh push to end Russia’s war.
It comes after Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff held trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi, then flew to meet Putin in Moscow and Zelenskyy in Dublin earlier this week.
The US has suggested giving the rest of Ukraine’s partially occupied Donbas region to Russia in exchange for Nato membership for Kyiv.
Putin also wants Britain to stop defending Europe with nuclear weapons, for Nato to withdraw its forces from Eastern Europe and the Baltic states and to reverse back to its 1997 position with no further enlargement.
He reportedly will only consider a ceasefire if Nato removes Finland from alliance, and promises not to send troops to Ukraine.
But Zelenskyy has slapped down most of these suggestions already.
The Ukrainian president said the idea of redrawing European’s security order was “dangerous” idea and “should not be the main agenda” – and said the concept had come straight from Putin.
“Putin’s desire to change borders in Europe is a fact. I am sure this is part of his concept of revising security guarantees in Europe,” he said on Friday.
“This is dangerous because, in my view, it is precisely things like this that lead to wars or escalations.”
He said Europe must decide its own future, especially as Putin could seek to weaken Nato’s military presence or even ask US troops to withdraw.
Zelenskyy said Putin made such suggestions with former US president Joe Biden in 2021.
“I think Putin will bring up Finland and Sweden. I’m sure he will raise the issue of Hungary and the presence of American troops in the Baltic countries,” Zelenskyy said.
“The sequence should be as follows: a ceasefire, an end to the war in Ukraine, and security guarantees for Ukraine,” he said. “There can be no security guarantees in Europe, or for Europe, without Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha also rejected Putin’s ideas on X: “The problem is, to propose ideas on that scale, you first need to win a world war.
“ Last time I checked, Russia had spent four years and eight months ‘nearly capturing’ the village of Mala Tokmachka in the Zaporizhzhia region.
“Russia has lost over 1.6 million troops killed and wounded, yet has not achieved a single goal of its invasion.
“In October alone, it lost 54,400 occupiers, while Ukraine liberated more ground than Russia managed to seize.”
He continued: “At this stage, the most Putin can negotiate is a fair ceasefire along the current line of contact, not spheres of influence in Europe.
“Frankly, Europe does not need a new security order. It already has one, which Russia keeps violating. The best plan for a safe and free Europe is to end Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”
Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said: “Russia likes to portray itself as a great power. In reality, its economic weight tells a very different story. Australia, with a population of just 27 million, has a larger economy than Russia, which has more than 140 million people.
“A striking contrast between imperial ambitions and economic reality.”
French president Emmanuel Macron warned against the new proposals as well, writing on X: “If Russia imposes its will on a European country through brutality, all of Europe is weakened.”
He continued: “The latest discussions with the American envoys made it clear: Vladimir Putin does not want to negotiate. His army is not advancing. It is even retreating and suffering considerable losses.
“But it is clear that he is betting on forcing Ukraine to its knees by stepping up strikes against civilians and trying to plunge the country into darkness this winter. Our responsibility is to thwart that bet.”
Trump is set to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin on Thursday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Europe feared this would be comparable to Trump’s Alaska summit with Putin 2025, where he literally rolled the red carpet out or the dictator in a one-to-one setting.
Merz said: “Please, no surprises. Continue to play in Team Europe and in the team with Ukraine.”
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