Zelenskyy, Rutte discuss steps to bring war end closer, involvement of countries in PURL
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte discussed joint steps in Kyiv that could bring the actual end of the war closer, in particular, security guarantees.
"Today, we first discussed what our next joint steps could do to provide Ukraine and all of Europe with more security and bring the actual end of the war closer. The first step is providing security guarantees. We have reached an important understanding with the United States and all of our partners," Zelenskyy said at a press conference on Friday.
The President noted that negotiations are currently underway virtually every day on the specific content of the security guarantee for Ukraine at the level of security advisors, at the level of the military, at the level of diplomats of all teams.
"The general goal, as it is formulated, both in the dialogue and with partners, should be guarantees like the fifth article of the NATO treaty, and these are really effective security guarantees. This is exactly the result we need to achieve," he emphasized.
The Head of State also reported that he had discussed with Rutte how to involve most countries in the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program.
"It is important that every month adds finances and effectiveness to the program. On average, this is a billion dollars per month, we talked with Mark, it could be a billion per month, it could be about one and a half billion, we need to work on this. We talked about how to involve more countries in this program," Zelenskyy added.
He emphasized the importance of providing adequate funding for programs that support the domestic production of Ukrainian drones.
"This was the second part of our conversation with our teams, exclusively about domestic production. Ukrainian production potential is much greater than our current financial capabilities. We are working to close this deficit," Zelenskyy said, adding that it amounts to approximately $6 billion.
The interlocutors also discussed key details of joint work for the sake of meaningful negotiations on ending the war.
"We hope that partners will help ensure at least a minimally productive position of the Russian side. We must force them to engage in diplomacy. Really strong sanctions are needed if they do not agree to a diplomatic solution to this war," he stressed.
Rutte arrived in Kyiv. Video and photos of the NATO Secretary General's stay in the Ukrainian capital were published on Telegram channels by Zelenskyy and the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak.
