First security guarantees, then Putin summit, Zelensky says
In comments released Thursday, he also warned both sides were preparing for further fighting, with Russia building up troops on the southern front line and Ukraine test launching a new long-range cruise missile.
US Donald Trump is seeking to end Russia's three-and-a-half year invasion of Ukraine with a flurry of talks with Zelensky and Putin, upending a years-long Western policy of isolating the Russian leader.
"We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days," Zelensky said, in comments to reporters released for publication Thursday.
"We need to understand which country will be ready to do what at each specific moment," he said. A group of allies led by Britain and France are putting together a military coalition to support the guarantees.
Once an outline of the security guarantees is agreed, Trump would like to see a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader said.
But he added that any meeting with the Russian leader should he held in a "neutral" European country and ruled out any summit in Moscow.
"Switzerland, Austria –- we agree... For us, Turkey is a NATO country and part of Europe. And we are not opposed," Zelensky said of possible venues.
- Russian troop build up -
And he added that he did not want China playing any role in guaranteeing Ukraine's security, citing Beijing's alleged support for Moscow.
"We do not need guarantors who do not help Ukraine and did not help Ukraine at the time when we really needed it," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader's comments came as Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Ukraine overnight in the biggest barrage since mid-July, killing one person and wounding many others.
Ukrainian officials said on Thursday that the barrage of 574 drones and 40 missiles showed Russia was not serious about a peace deal, despite intensive US diplomatic efforts in recent days.
Zelensky meanwhile announced that Ukraine had tested a long-range cruise missile known as Flamingo that can strike targets as far as 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) away and said mass production could begin by February.
"The missile has undergone successful tests. It is currently our most successful missile," he told reporters.
Since Trump took the White House earlier this year and began pushing for an end to the fighting, Russian forces have continued to slowly but steadily gain ground across the front line.
Zelensky has said that Russian forces were building up troops along the front in Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow claims as its own along with four other Ukrainian regions.
Trump met Putin in Alaska, before bringing Zelensky and European leaders to Washington for separate talks earlier this week.
Zelensky has said the only way to end the war is a meeting with Putin, and has said Trump should be present too.
But Moscow has played down the prospect of a summit between Putin and Zelensky any time soon, and has said it wants to be included in discussions on future security guarantees for Ukraine.
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"We're willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you talk about by air, because nobody has the kind of stuff we have." He did not provide further details. If the US agreed to enforce control of the Ukrainian skies, it would be an "incredible green light for greater ambition" by Europeans on security, Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, told AFP news agency. US air support could involve a variety of options, including providing more air defence systems to Ukraine, enforcing a no-fly zone with US fighter jets, or assisting with air policing. A no-fly zone would ban all unauthorised aircraft from flying over Ukraine, but to be effective, it would require a threat of military action if violated. NATO has denied requests to enact no-fly zones in the past, wary of dragging the alliance into the conflict. Air policing is a peacetime mission that involves continuous presence "24 hours a day, 365 days a year of fighter aircraft and crews, which are ready to react quickly to possible airspace violations," according to NATO. Professor Fruehling said air policing would again be "largely symbolic", and what Ukraine really needed was a commitment to a defence mission. "If the US was really committed to an air campaign against Russia, the Russians really would have a big problem," he said. Matthew Savill, director of military services at the British think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said if Western allies were not willing to "take risks", their security guarantees would do little to deter Russia. "The Russians are unlikely to fear US airpower if they do not think it will be used against them," he wrote in an analysis. "Trump has consistently been clear he does not see it as worth the US risk to confront Russia." 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Professor Fruehling was concerned that any agreements would in the end hinge on Russia. "The term security guarantees is widely used, but who's actually guaranteeing what here?" he said. "Nobody can guarantee Ukraine's security because ultimately only the Russians can do that." ABC/Wires
