MILES PARKS, HOST:
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is in Berlin, where he will continue ceasefire talks with European leaders and members of the Trump administration. Zelenskyy says Ukraine and its European allies want concrete security guarantees, so Russia doesn't attack the country again. NPR's Ukraine correspondent Joanna Kakissis joins us now from Kyiv to give us the latest. Hi, Joanna.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Hey, Miles.
PARKS: So tell us more about the security promises that Ukraine wants.
KAKISSIS: Well, Zelenskyy says he wants a ceasefire that includes measures to protect Ukrainians since NATO membership appears to be off the table for now.
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PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: He's saying, "we are working for a peace that is durable so Russia will not attempt a third invasion of Ukraine." Zelenskyy told reporters through a voice message that in the absence of Ukraine actually joining NATO, the U.S. appears to be offering security guarantees similar to Article 5 of the security alliance's charter. And now, it's not clear how this U.S. provision would work, but NATO's Article 5 requires member states to defend a member under attack. And Ukraine needs this because, Zelenskyy says, Russia has a history of ignoring treaties and breaking promises.
PARKS: Can you elaborate on that a little bit more? Can you lay out the history for us?
KAKISSIS: Sure. So Zelenskyy brought up this deal called the Budapest Memorandum. It was from 1994. It was signed three years after Ukraine's independence, following the fall of the Soviet Union. Now, Ukraine was forced to give up hard security, meaning its nuclear arsenal, in exchange for political assurances from the U.S., the U.K. and Russia that Ukraine's sovereignty would be respected. Yet those assurances did not do much. In 2014, Russia illegally annexed Crimea in Ukraine's south and started the war in the eastern region of Donbas. And in 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and continues to bomb the entire country today.
PARKS: So you mentioned this eastern region of Donbas. How does that region play into the negotiations?
KAKISSIS: So Russia occupies most of it and wants all of it either by military force or through deal-making with the Trump team. Zelenskyy said last week that there has been talk of creating this free economic zone in the part of Donbas that is still controlled by Ukraine. He says it would involve Ukraine pulling back its troops.
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ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: And he's saying, "who will manage this economic zone? And if Ukraine has to pull back its troops, shouldn't Russia have to do the same?" Now, public opinion polls do show that Ukrainians strongly oppose giving up territory in exchange for any peace deal.
PARKS: I know Zelenskyy has also talked about the possibility of Ukrainians holding an election in the next 90 days. Can you tell us any more about that?
KAKISSIS: Zelenskyy says he's exploring the idea after President Trump said recently that Zelenskyy's government was using the war to avoid elections. But, you know, Ukrainians oppose wartime elections, and the constitution actually forbids them. Then there are security concerns - Russians could attack polling places - and how to include more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees living abroad in this vote, or the nearly 1 million members of the military, some of whom have to leave the front line to vote. Now, Olga Aivazovska - she's a Ukrainian electoral reform expert - she told me Russia believes elections are a way to force out Zelenskyy and his government.
OLGA AIVAZOVSKA: This leadership in the country, which is still fighting and doesn't want to sign any so-called peace deals without guarantees.
KAKISSIS: She says the Kremlin and the Trump administration assume a candidate more accommodating to their needs would win. But surveys show that if the vote was held today, Zelenskyy would still come in first.
PARKS: That's NPR's Joanna Kakissis in Kyiv. Thank you so much.
KAKISSIS: You're welcome.
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