⚡URGENT! ❗ Zelensky and Merts’ statements regarding negotiations with Russia

Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you. Now they will make their statements. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to briefly welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Federal Chancellor's office in Berlin. I am very glad, Volodymyr, that we are communicating together today, that we have these video conferences.

It was today, October 13, August 13, excuse me, on this day the construction of the Berlin Wall began. And we know that this wall was the embodiment of the German and European split.

We managed to overcome this split. But we also know that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been ongoing for 3½ years. And this war opened the wounds of European division.

United States President Donald Trump wants to start, to move forward, talks about peace in Ukraine. On Friday, he plans to meet with Russian President Putin in Alasta.

Important decisions can be made, important decisions made, in Anchorage. We Europeans are doing everything in our power to steer this meeting in the right direction. We want US President Donald Trump to be successful in Anchorage on Friday.

Before this meeting on the sly, it was very important for me to involve our partners from the European Union, our friends from Ukraine and from America, because the prerequisite for this meeting is this discussion. And today we discussed our positions in detail with colleagues from France, Great Britain, Poland, Finland, Italy, as well as with Ursa Fonderlans, Antonio Costa, and Mark Rutte.

And Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also present at these conversations. And I am very happy. We also spoke with President Trump, and after this meeting with you, we will continue consultations under the leadership of President Macron and Prime Minister Starmer within the coalition of the willing. This is part of a very intense dialogue that we have been having over the last few days.

These were both individual bilateral conversations and various other formats. In Alaska, in Alaska, it should be about fundamental Ukrainian and European security interests. This was the message we communicated to the American president today.

And we were unanimous in our assessment of the situation and also in what could be achieved, what goal could be achieved. We were unanimous in this.

We also demonstrated how deeply engaged we are. Germany has mobilized more than 40 billion euros in military aid since 2022. In the European Union, we have already adopted 18 sanctions packages.

So, we are very active in crisis diplomacy because we want peace to be restored in Europe. We also formulated everything, on Saturday, our most important positions among Europeans. I initiated this statement and the European Council also adopted this statement.

Our teams have discussed these issues in detail with the American side over the past few days. And President Trump knows that when the United States works for peace in Ukraine and protects Ukrainian and European interests, he can count on our full support. We discussed several important points.

We also made it clear that Ukraine should be at the negotiating table if there is a next meeting after this one. We want the order to be correct.

This means a truce first, and it should be at the very beginning. Important elements may be a framework agreement, which will come later. Thirdly, Ukraine is ready for negotiations about negotiations, and also to discuss territorial issues, but we are departing from the contact line, it is, so to speak, the starting position, and legal recognition of the territories occupied by Russia is not under discussion.

It also divides them to a large extent. And so I can say that we had a very constructive conversation. We wished him all the best.

We agreed that immediately after meeting with President Putin, he would communicate and brief Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, and then also European heads of state. And there is hope for movement, for change, there is hope for peace in Ukraine.

We are from Europe, we are united. And I, from Germany's perspective, am also doing everything to use every chance at the diplomatic level to end this terrible war. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Friedrich. Thank you Germany for the invitation. Today we are working with the Chancellor in four formats. The first is our two-way track.

Thank you for all the points we discussed, bilateral relations. We are very grateful to Germany for such a great contribution to helping strengthen our state, security, strengthening our air defense, and helping at the beginning of this war. Thank you very much for this.

Then we worked at the level of European leaders. The third track is a conversation with the President of the United States of America. And we're wrapping up after a press conference in our format on the future security and security infrastructure for our state.

This is Coano Wellings. First of all, I want to thank all partners for their support for Ukraine. And we spoke with President Trump today, President Fonderliani, NATO Secretary General Marc Mariu, President Stubbs, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Melania, the President of Poland. Well, all week since last Wednesday, there have been all these very intense communications, dozens of these communications between all of us, European leaders, between Europe and the United States of America, between us and representatives of other parts of the world who seek only one thing: peace in Ukraine, peace in Europe.

Today we discussed our common positions with the President of the United States of America. There was a coordination conversation before that, as I told you, we agreed on common principles, five principles, in principle, the principles that Friedrich talked about. I want to thank you for your leadership in this direction, Friedrich.

This is the format of the negotiations. Everything that concerns Ukraine should be discussed exclusively with Ukraine. We need to prepare a three-way conversation format.

There must be a ceasefire. Number one, there must be security guarantees and they must be strengthened if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire in Alaska. These are effective principles.

It is important that they work. Of course, we discussed the situation on the battlefield today. Well, I told the President of the United States of America and all our European colleagues, Putin is bluffing. He is trying to put pressure on all directions of the Ukrainian front before the meeting in Alaska.

Russia is trying to portray itself as capable of occupying all of Ukraine. Of course, this is their desire. Putin is also bluffing, as if sanctions are unimportant to him and that they are not working.

In fact, sanctions are very helpful and are hitting the Russian military economy. Yes, that's true. Russia has several times more weapons, in particular three times more artillery and the like, but Russia also has three times more losses.

And this is a fact. I told my colleagues and the President of the United States of America, my European friends, that Putin definitely does not want peace. He wants to occupy our state.

And we all really understand that. Putin will not be able to deceive anyone. We need further pressure for peace. Not only American, but also European sanctions.

And together, our alliance of partners can really stop Putin's war. We talked about meeting in Alaska. We hope that the central topic of the meeting will be a ceasefire, an immediate ceasefire.

The President of the United States of America has repeatedly spoken about this. He suggested to me that after the meeting in Alaska, we would have contact with him and we would discuss all the results, if any, and we would determine our next mutual steps. Now we will have a meeting of the coalition of those willing for peace and security.

And that is really our goal. This is what we work for. Thank you to everyone who helps us. Thank you again, Razlihu. Glory to Ukraine! Thank you.

Olga Tanosiychuk, Ukrainian State News Agency. Questions for Mr. Zelensky. You literally said yesterday during a conversation with Ukrainian journalists that Ukraine will not leave Donbas in exchange for a ceasefire. Has your position changed in any way after today's talks here in Berlin? And a question for Chancellor Merz regarding the ceasefire.

Is the lifting or easing of sanctions against Russia a possible condition if a ceasefire is achieved? And what security guarantees does Europe have, what security guarantees could Europe resort to in such a case? Thank you. Thank you for your question.

As for my position, it has not changed, because it is based on the Constitution of Ukraine. As long as the Constitution of the state remains unchanged, well, the position of the guarantor of this Constitution cannot change. We discussed these issues today, and they are certainly very complex issues.

I want to emphasize right away that any issues related to the territorial integrity of our state cannot be discussed, regardless of our state, our people, the will of the state, the will of our people, and the Constitution of Ukraine. Thank you.

Of course, we talked about the truce today. Of course, President Trump said that was one of his priorities in his conversation with President Putin on Friday. And I really hope that some kind of agreement will be reached, because so far all the conversations that have been held with Putin over the past 3½ years have only ended with him increasing the military presence, increasing the attacks.

And that's why all those conversations didn't bring anything. They assume that President Trump will try to break through. Dear Mr.

Federal Chancellor, security guarantees. Did I understand correctly that President Trump said that he would provide security guarantees to Ukraine, what will they be and will the Europeans also participate in them? And a question for President Zelenskyy regarding the exchange of territories. Under what conditions were you able to talk about exchanging territories with Putin? And is this Friday a historic moment for you or is this just one of many meetings that are happening? Lifetime guarantees.

We talked about them briefly. We know that Ukraine needs security guarantees. And that's why I said this in my statement, that the Ukrainian army must be able to defend its homeland and, in the future, its country. What will these guarantees be? Who will be what, so to speak, what role will each person play in them? We haven't talked about this yet, but this is, so to speak, the next step.

You know, it seems to me that the success of any negotiation depends primarily on the result and mood. Our mood right now is completely united and very positive.

All partners demonstrated one voice, one desire, one principles, and one vision. This attitude is already an important step forward. As for the historicity of the moments, I wouldn't want to use such big words right now.

Let's wait for the result. In any case, the key issues that you talked about later or at the beginning of this question regarding our principles, regarding our territorial integrity, are ultimately still resolved at the level of leaders. It is impossible to solve this without Ukraine.