Second day of talks in U.S.: Zelenskyy reports important signals

Ukraine’s negotiating team continues its work in the United States, where meetings with representatives of the U.S. president have now entered their second day. Following these talks, positive signals have emerged, offering hope for further prisoner exchanges with Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined preliminary results of the delegation’s visit to the U.S. and developments regarding exchanges in his evening address on Sunday, March 22.

Talks in the U.S.: focus and security guarantees

The president said the U.S. side is currently largely focused on the situation around Iran and the Middle East. However, this does not remove the need to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to American society for its clear support for a «normal and dignified peace» for Ukraine.

«It is important to ensure that the aggressor is not rewarded for this war. And it is important that none of us is forced to return to war in a few months or years, which means that security guarantees for Ukraine and for all of Europe must be sufficient for peace — for a reliable peace, ” Zelenskyy said.

He added that details of the meetings that cannot be discussed over the phone for security reasons will be analyzed after the negotiating team returns to Ukraine.

«Diplomacy works»: prisoner exchanges

The president also addressed the issue of securing the release of Ukrainians held by Russia. According to him, the talks have raised hopes for progress in this area.

«There are signals that further exchanges may be possible, and this would indeed be very good news and confirmation that diplomacy is working. We hope this will happen, ” he said.