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Starmer and Macron as mediators: what is known about Zelensky’s new visit to the United States?

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are ready to visit the United States with Zelenskyy to present a peace plan. However, their role could be much greater. Starmer and Macron can act as mediators between Ukraine and the United States. Will the leaders succeed in achieving their main goal of resuming aid to Ukraine and increasing international pressure on Russia? Will the presence of Macron and Starmer help avoid a confrontation between Trump and Zelensky? And whether Zelenskyy should wear a suit this time – further in the article of Komersant ukrainskyi

The role of the President of France and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom may be key in establishing a dialogue with possible future US President Donald Trump. About this in an exclusive commentary [Kommersant]military expert Ivan Stupak said in an exclusive interview. “Moreover, the recent criticism of Zelenskyy because of his appearance looked like a pretext for political pressure. And, therefore, it is important to prevent this from happening again.

“If the president of Ukraine arrived in an expensive suit, he would be accused of being a spendthrift. This is rather a classic case when you can find fault with anything,” emphasizes Ivan Stupak.

Intermediaries in a big game

According to Stupak, the presence of Macron and Starmer in the United States will play the role of mediation between Zelensky and Trump to avoid confrontation.

“They act as guarantors that there will be no repeat of the conflict in the White House. Their mission is to mitigate possible disagreements between the leaders and promote constructive dialogue,” explains Ivan Stupak.

According to him, in politics, mutual benefit rather than friendship plays an important role. Despite the personal animosity between Macron and Trump, political necessity forces them to find common solutions.

Expectations from the talks

Stupak predicts that the main results of this meeting could be three key points:

1. Resumption of military and financial assistance to Ukraine.
2. Signing of important agreements guaranteeing support for Ukraine.
3. The beginning of real international pressure on Russia

“At present, the US pressure is mainly aimed at the victim – Ukraine, not the aggressor,” said Ivan Stupak.

Time will tell whether world leaders will be able to reach an agreement and prevent a new political confrontation.

Weapons in exchange for negotiations? Washington freezes support for Kyiv

The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, and American diplomat James Volz have discussed a possible venue and date for talks between Ukraine and Russia. This was reported by presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn.

According to Volz, the discussions concern not only a potential meeting, but also confidence-building measures.

“We will negotiate peace, and we are already talking about confidence-building measures, which we will then pass on to the Russians and test the other side. It’s going to be hard shuttle diplomacy, but both sides have to be involved… I think we’re moving in a positive direction now,” Volz said.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking to renegotiate the terms of the treaty between Washington and Kyiv on the extraction of rare earth metals. According to CBS News, Trump’s team insists on a “bigger and better deal” that will change the rules of cooperation in this area.

Ukraine has significant reserves of rare earth metals, which are critical to the US defense and technology industries. It is expected that this issue will be one of the topics of talks between the leaders.

While the exact date of the peace talks has not been determined, the United States has temporarily suspended arms sales and intelligence sharing with Kyiv. This was reported by Axios, citing Volz.

At the same time, Sky News adds that the suspension affected all intelligence information, not just data on strikes deep into Russia.