Russia indicates it is open to Ukraine joining EU as part of deal – US officials
Such an offer would be a major concession by Moscow, US officials said.
Russia has indicated it is open to Ukraine joining the European Union (EU) as part of a potential peace deal to end the war, according to US officials.
The officials who briefed reporters after US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as well as British, French and German officials in Berlin over the last two days said that such an offer would be a major concession by Moscow. But Russia has said previously that it does not object to Ukraine joining the EU.
The US officials said America had also agreed to provide unspecified security guarantees to Kyiv as part of the deal but that such an offer would not be on the table “forever”.
The latest round of talks between Mr Zelensky and US envoys ended on Monday as Kyiv faces Washington’s pressure to swiftly accept a US-brokered peace deal while confronting an increasingly assertive Moscow.
Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said on social media that “real progress” had been achieved at the talks in Berlin with US president Donald Trump’s special envoy Mr Witkoff and Mr Trump’s son-in-law Mr Kushner as well as European officials. The talks lasted roughly 90 minutes, after a five-hour session on Sunday.
The US government said in a social media post on Mr Witkoff’s account after Sunday’s meeting that “a lot of progress was made”.
The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.
Mr Zelensky has expressed readiness to drop Ukraine’s bid to join the Nato military alliance if the US and other western nations give Kyiv security guarantees similar to those offered to Nato members.
But Ukraine’s preference remains Nato membership as the best security guarantee to prevent further Russian aggression, but this option does not currently have full backing from all allies.
Still, Ukraine has continued to reject the US push for ceding territory to Russia. Russian president Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the part of Donetsk region still under its control as one of the key conditions for peace.
Mr Zelensky’s itinerary on Monday also included meetings with German and other European leaders. French president Emmanuel Macron’s office confirmed he would travel to Berlin later on Monday.
“The issue of security in particular will ultimately determine whether this war actually comes to a standstill and whether it flares up again,” a spokesperson for German chancellor Friedrich Merz, Stefan Kornelius, told reporters.
The Russian president has cast Ukraine’s bid to join Nato as a major threat to Moscow’s security and a reason for launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine renounce the bid for alliance membership as part of any prospective peace settlement.
Mr Zelensky emphasised that any western security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the US congress.
The Kremlin said on Monday that it expected to be updated on the Berlin talks by the US side.
Asked whether the negotiations could be over by Christmas, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said trying to predict a potential time frame for a peace deal was a “thankless task”.
“I can only speak for the Russian side, for President Putin,” Mr Peskov said.
“He is open to peace, to a serious peace and serious decisions. He is absolutely not open to any tricks aimed at stalling for time.”
Mr Putin has denied plans to attack any European allies.
Meanwhile, Russia fired 153 drones of various types at Ukraine overnight Sunday into Monday, according to Ukraine’s air force, which said 133 drones were neutralised, while 17 more hit their targets.
In Russia, the defense ministry said on Monday that forces had destroyed 130 Ukrainian drones overnight. An additional 16 drones were destroyed between 7am and 8am local time.
Eighteen drones were shot down over Moscow itself, the defence ministry said. Flights were temporarily halted at the city’s Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports as part of safety measures, officials said.
Damage details and casualty figures were not immediately available.
