Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to meet with President Trump “as soon as possible” to finalize an agreement on the terms for ending the war in Ukraine, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Zelensky.
During talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other US officials on Sunday, Ukrainian officials made significant changes to the original US proposal that was leaked to the media, which called for Ukraine to cede territory and guarantee that it wouldn’t ever join NATO.
According to The New York Times, Rubio removed the section that would bar Ukraine from joining NATO, one of Russia’s main demands for a peace deal. Other “sensitive” issues, including the territorial lines and limits on Ukraine’s military, are set to be decided by Trump and Zelensky.
“I hope the visit of President Zelensky will take place as soon as possible, because … it will be help President Trump to continue his historical mission to end this war,” Yermak told Axios. “Because [Trump] can say: ‘Look, this is confirmed and agreed, our position with the Ukrainians. We support it, and we continue now to speak with the Russians.”
While the original peace plan drafted by the US included elements that Russia may not accept, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said it could work as the basis for a final settlement. But any proposal that doesn’t include Ukraine making territorial concessions and a guarantee that the country won’t join NATO will almost certainly be rejected by Moscow.
Yermak told Axios that the main issue to be discussed between Trump and Zelensky is territory. The US proposal calls for Ukraine to cede the territory it still controls in the Donbas and the freezing of the lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, but Ukrainian officials don’t want to do that even as their forces continue to lose territory in both southern and eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky has been under pressure lately to fire Yermak over a corruption scandal that has rocked Ukraine, which implicated close allies of the Ukrainian president. According to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, The Wall Street Journal has been sitting on a story about Yermak’s personal corruption.
“For months, The Wall Street Journal has held a story detailing the personal corruption of Andrii Yermak, the second most powerful man in Ukraine. Yermak has skimmed hundreds of millions in American tax dollars meant for Ukraine aid,” Carlson wrote on X on Tuesday.
“The Journal’s editors can prove that. But they’re not. Instead, they’re protecting Yermak. Why? Because Yermak is leading Ukraine’s efforts to scuttle the Trump peace plan for Eastern Europe. The owners of the Wall Street Journal don’t want peace with Russia. They want war. At the same time, the Journal’s editorial page has attacked the Trump administration for pushing a peace agreement,” Carlson added.
