Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, said Wednesday he believes the talks with Russia are absolutely "real" and that the Kremlin is not trying to use them to "stall for time" in order to regroup.
Podolyak, a senior aid to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told ABC News in an interview that he believes the Russians are looking to make a deal, but he warned Ukraine believes it's possible it may take months.
He said Russia has stopped issuing ultimatums and is now in the process of seeing how far it has to lower its goals.
Asked if Ukraine is ready to give up its ambitions to join NATO, Russia's key demand, Podolyak called on the U.S. to take the lead in forming a broader alliance that would give Ukraine security guarantees.
Zelenskyy has made it clear Ukraine is ready to potentially give up NATO membership, provided it gets security guarantees from Western countries that would protect it from a future Russian invasion.
When asked what that would look like, Podolyak suggested a potential security guarantee could be the U.S. and allies putting in writing that, in case of any future aggression from Russia, a no-fly zone would be put in place.
He has suggested that some NATO countries may be prepared to give those guarantees separate to NATO.
Podolyak also denied reports from several newspapers that claimed Russia and Ukraine are discussing a 15-point peace plan in which Ukraine would give up its NATO ambitions and accept some limits on its military in return for security guarantees from western countries.
He said for now, Russia and Ukraine both have drafts and Russia is leaking some of its drafts, pretending that it is a deal close to being signed.
-ABC News' Patrick Reevell
