EXCLUSIVE-US links security guarantees to Ukraine giving up Donbas, Zelenskiy says

By Daniel Flynn and Olena Harmash

KYIV, March 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. is making its offer of security guarantees for a peace deal in Ukraine conditional on Kyiv ceding all of the country's eastern region of Donbas to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Reuters in an interview.

With the U.S. focused on its own conflict with Iran, President Donald Trump is applying pressure to Ukraine in an effort to bring a quick end to the four-year war triggered by Russia's 2022 invasion, Zelenskiy said.

"The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump, and I think on his next steps. President Trump, unfortunately, in my opinion, still chooses a strategy of putting more pressure on the Ukrainian side," he told Reuters.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and swaths of Ukraine laid waste, in Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two.

The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said robust security guarantees from international partners are needed to ensure that Russia does not restart hostilities in the future, after any peace deal is agreed.

Two vital questions remained unresolved regarding security guarantees, Zelenskiy said: Who would help to fund Ukraine's weapons purchases to sustain its military deterrent, and how exactly would its allies respond in the face of any future Russian aggression?

"The Americans are prepared to finalise these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas," the 48-year-old leader said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin insists that control of the whole of Donbas is an essential element of his war aims, which Moscow would achieve on the battlefield if it could not do so at the negotiating table.

But the pace of Russia's advance has been slow over the past two years. Military analysts say it could take a long time and a significant amount of manpower to conquer all of Donbas, which includes a so-called Fortress Belt of cities heavily fortified by the Ukrainian military.

Zelenskiy warned that a withdrawal would compromise the security of both Ukraine and, by extension, Europe, by handing the region's strong defensive positions to Russia.

"I would very much like the American side to understand that the eastern part of our country is part of our security guarantees," he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zelenskiy had said in January that a security guarantees document between Ukraine and the U.S. was "100% ready" and waiting to be signed. On Tuesday, following weekend talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Miami, he said there was still work to be done.

RUSSIA IS BETTING U.S. WILL WALK AWAY, ZELENSKIY SAYS

Speaking in a gilded meeting room at the presidential offices in central Kyiv, Zelenskiy said Russia was betting Washington would lose interest if the peace talks stalled and would walk away. He acknowledged that there was some risk of this.

Zelenskiy questioned, however, whether Russia was willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands more soldiers in an effort to capture the area of Donbas it does not already control - roughly 6,000 square km. He repeated that a summit with Trump, Putin and himself was the only way to settle outstanding questions on territory and security guarantees to clinch a peace deal.

The Ukrainian leader shrugged off past tensions between himself and Trump. "I am not a box of chocolates or a car, to be liked or disliked by one person or another," he said. "In my opinion, the President of the United States looks at this more pragmatically, and he probably wants the war to end quickly. We also want to do so quickly."

Following heavy Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities on Wednesday, Zelenskiy thanked the Trump administration for maintaining the supplies of Patriot missile defence systems, despite increased demand for these weapons because of the conflict in the Gulf.

Ukrainian officials have previously expressed fears that shipments of U.S.-made Patriots - the only missiles in Ukraine's arsenal capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles - would dry up because of the Iran conflict.

"Deliveries to us were not stopped. I'm very grateful to President Trump, and to his team," Zelenskiy said. "But this supply of Patriot missiles is not as large as we need."

Meanwhile, Ukraine was making progress in its production of its own long-range missiles and drones, allowing it to strike deep within Russia in retaliation for Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities, Zelenskiy said.