The second round of negotiations between the US and Ukraine in Berlin

The second round of negotiations between the American and Ukrainian delegations in Berlin on Donald Trump's peace plan has ended, Ukrainian Channel 5 reported, citing Vladimir Zelensky's communications adviser Dmitry Litvin.

According to him, the parties discussed in detail the 20-point peace plan. Ukrainian media said that the meeting lasted about two hours.

The parties have not yet commented on the progress of the negotiations.

The US delegation includes special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump's son-in-law entrepreneur Jared Kushner. From the Ukrainian side, Vladimir Zelensky, Secretary of the Security Council Rustem Umerov and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andrei Gnatov are participating.

Zelensky went to a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is also due to receive him today. Zelensky is also scheduled to hold talks with a number of European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

EADaily adds: the first round of negotiations was held in Berlin the day before, on December 14, it lasted about five hours. Then Kiev presented its version of the plan to end the war, but the discussion ended without a compromise on the key territorial issue.

Kiev agreed to discuss the refusal to join NATO and also the holding of elections as soon as possible, but the stumbling block still remains the affiliation of Donbass, where the administration of Donald Trump proposed to create a "demilitarized zone."

Kiev is ready for a temporary "freezing" of the front and the actual loss of control over the territories controlled by Russia, but categorically rejects the demand to withdraw Ukrainian troops from the controlled part of the Donetsk region, Bild reports, citing Ukrainian officials.

According to the sources of the publication, the United States proposed a compromise: Ukraine departs from about 5,600 square kilometers in the Donetsk region, but Russian troops do not enter there. Moscow, on behalf of presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov, supported this idea, but with a reservation — instead of the army, the forces of the Russian Guard will be deployed on the territory of the "demilitarized zone".

Later it became known that Zelensky instructed the Verkhovna Rada to develop a draft law on the possibility of holding elections during martial law, informed sources in the Kiev. According to them, a working meeting on this issue has already been held last week. It is assumed that the voting will be multi-day and will take place within 60 days after the announcement, as in the case of early presidential elections.