Yesterday, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff announced “significant progress” in negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation in Berlin and confirmed a second meeting.
Radar Armenia interviewed political scientist Hovsep Khurshudyan on the topic.
-What kind of progress are we talking about?
-In fact, this progress occurred as a result of pressure on the Ukrainian authorities by the US negotiating team, something that became possible after the corruption scandal erupted. The basis of this scandal was the wiretapping of the Ukrainian anti-corruption agency, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, a structure that enjoys US patronage. The scandal forced the resignation of the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Yermak, and another negotiator, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, who was the Minister of Defense of Ukraine in 2023-2025, and whose name was also circulating on the list of those involved in corruption rings, became highly vulnerable to US pressure.
-You see real, potential progress here.
-In any case, even under these conditions, the progress in negotiations that you mentioned came at the cost of Zelensky making tangible changes to the initial document, which he did with the support of the Europeans, represented in the negotiations by German Chancellor Merz. This indicates that the Kremlin has not yet agreed to the amended version.
-The representatives had in-depth discussions on the peace plan, economic programs, and other issues. Can we expect Ukraine to move towards peace after these meetings?
-As I said, Zelensky has significantly changed the document, which on the one hand means that it has become more or less acceptable to Zelensky, but most likely unacceptable to Putin.
Lilit Abrahamyan
