BERLIN, November 24. /TASS/. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that he doesn’t expect any breakthroughs at the talks on the Ukrainian settlement this week.
"This is a difficult process. This week, only small steps will be taken in it," the DPA agency quoted him as saying after the informal EU summit on Ukraine in Angola.
"Peace in Ukraine cannot be established overnight," he said, adding that the next step should be bringing Russia into the negotiating process.
He noted that the United States’ initial 28-point peace plan was seriously "modified" during the Geneva negotiations and now, in his words, the new document is being agreed upon. "We are united that we want to reach a ceasefire and peace in Ukraine as soon as possible and we want security for Europe," Merz said.
According to the German chancellor, the Ukraine peace plan cannot be adopted without the Europeans’ consent on those issues that are of concern for them. The European Union, in his words, believes that Kiev "needs strong armed forces and reliable security guarantees from the partners."
The United States and Ukraine held consultation on Washington’s 28-point peace plan on Sunday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the meeting as the most productive since the beginning of the conflict. According to the Ukrainian media, Washington and Kiev managed to agree on a large part of the plan. The United States, according to Rubio, agreed to isolate issues of Ukraine’s European integration and potential NATO membership as a separate negotiating track.