Kuleba names key topic of Zelenskyi-Biden meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and U.S. President Joe Biden at a meeting in Washington in July will discuss in detail the participation of the United States in the process of the political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the issue of countering Russian aggression.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said this in an interview with the Liga online news site.

"The main focus is to take a new step in cooperation with our partners in the field of security and defense, investment and trade. I do not yet know whether we will leave the meeting with a ready answer about what U.S. participation will be like in the process of political and diplomatic settlement and in countering Russian aggression, but the presidents will certainly talk about it in great detail. This will be the key topic," Kuleba said.

He added that Ukraine's goal is to find a format for U.S. participation in the talks that will give maximum results. According to Kuleba, the Americans "are already in this process, but this is not enough to change Russia's behavior."

Kuleba also noted that the Russians "categorically do not reject the issue of interaction with the Americans on this track."

"Remember the Surkov-Volker line. But we have problems in the Normandy process. Everyone says: Russia, you are a party to the conflict, fulfill your obligations, stop the war. But Russia says: no, we are not a party to the conflict. Until we untie this knot, a full settlement is impossible. And we need to talk very objectively with the Americans about how to untie this knot, what kind of combination can be built so that we get out of the impasse," he said.

Biden and Zelensky had a phone call on June 7 during which the U.S. leader invited his Ukrainian counterpart to visit the White House.

Kuleba said on June 11 that the Ukrainian and U.S. presidents would meet in late July.