Ukraine Says Ties With White House Are 'back on Track'

Ukraine and US Relations Improve After White House Meeting

By Alessandra Galloni, Christian Lowe

KYIV (Reuters) -Relations between Kyiv and Washington are "back on track", the chief of staff to Ukraine's president told Reuters, after a fraught Oval Office encounter last month between the U.S. and Ukrainian leaders.

Andriy Yermak said two rounds of talks on a potential ceasefire, held in Saudi Arabia, had given Kyiv an opportunity to show U.S. officials it is open to work with U.S. President Donald Trump in his bid to end the three-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine.

Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that was in contrast with the Russian negotiating approach, which he said involved attaching conditions to a peace deal.

"I think we have great conversations with the Americans," Yermak said in an interview at his office in Kyiv late on Tuesday. "I think we are back on track."

A Feb. 28 meeting in the White House between Zelenskiy and Trump descended into acrimony, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance saying the Ukrainian leader showed disrespect.

Since then, Kyiv has launched a drive to salvage relations, starting with a March 19 telephone call between Trump and Zelenskiy which Yermak described as "great."

It's so far unclear if Kyiv's approach will lead to concrete outcomes from the talks that Ukraine is seeking, or alter Trump's desire to build closer ties with Moscow. 

Describing the talks in Saudi Arabia, where U.S. officials have been trying to broker agreements with Russia and Ukrainian delegations, Yermak said. "We demonstrated we are very serious, the Americans understood."

"Dear American friends, you understand that we are partners. This was our goal." 

In contrast, he said: "Russia is just playing games."

Moscow has said it is committed to achieving peace, and has accused Kyiv of undermining the process by launching attacks on targets in Russia.

On Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, the United States reached separate deals with Ukraine and Russia to pause their attacks over the Black Sea and against each other's energy targets, but it was not clear when and how the deals would come into force.

Russia made a Black Sea truce conditional on an easing of sanctions so it can regain access to international export markets for its fertiliser and agricultural products.

Yermak said this was indicative of Russia's approach to peace talks overall.

"It shows that they (Russia) did not accept an unconditional ceasefire, which is nonsense," he said. "Our logic is that we need to go in without any conditions.” 

"President Trump wants to end this war, this is great…. Russia does not want to end this war."

"The best way to believe otherwise would be Russia’s strict adherence to the agreements reached in Saudi Arabia — at the very least, the initial agreements on an unconditional ceasefire. And then move forward toward a truly sustainable peace," Yermak said.

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)