Rustem Umerov made the statement amid Ukraine’s calls for more weapons from its Western backers
Kiev is ready for negotiations with Moscow to end the conflict, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on Wednesday.
The announcement came on the sidelines of a meeting with Kiev’s backers in Brussels to discuss supplies of military aid to Ukraine.
The ‘Ramstein’ format meeting is being chaired by UK Defense Secretary John Healey and attended by newly appointed US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
While the stated focus of the meeting with Ukraine’s Western backers is to seek “stable and timely” deliveries of air defense systems, aviation, and ammunition to Kiev, Umerov signaled a willingness to negotiate the settlement of the conflict with Moscow.
“Ukraine is ready for negotiations to end the war. But a just and lasting peace is possible only when Ukraine is strong on the battlefield,” the minister said on social media.
The comment comes as the US, Kiev’s main donor, has suspended most foreign aid after President Donald Trump assumed office last month.
Umerov’s remark also follows a recent suggestion made by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to trade territory with Russia in any potential peace negotiations.
In an interview with The Guardian on Tuesday, Zelensky said he planned to exchange land which Ukrainian forces captured in Russia’s Kursk Region last August, should Trump succeeds in bringing Moscow and Kiev to the negotiating table. However, he admitted uncertainty about which territories he would seek in return.
Zelensky previously said he would agree to negotiations with Russia if the US and EU offered Kiev firm security guarantees. He earlier named Ukraine’s NATO membership as one of them, a notion Moscow has repeatedly opposed.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed the possibility of a land swap with Ukraine. She mocked Zelensky’s proposal on Wednesday, writing, “Neonazis rampaging in Kursk Region will receive land without any swap, measured a meter wide, two long, and roughly a meter and a half deep,” in an apparent reference to a grave.
According to Zakharova, Zelensky’s remarks were an attempt to distract from the difficulties Ukrainian forces are facing on the battlefield.
The Ukrainian army has reportedly lost over half of the territory gained in Kursk Region six months ago, with Russia’s Defense Ministry estimating nearly 60,000 Ukrainian casualties in the operation.
While Russia has consistently signaled its readiness for talks, Moscow insists that any peace deal with Kiev should address the “reality on the ground,” namely the recognition of the outcomes of referendums in which residents of former Ukrainian regions voted to join Russia. This includes Crimea, Sevastopol, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye Region, and Kherson Region.
