Zelenskyy, after Trump talks, says territorial issue still unsolved

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE via REUTERS

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump shake hands during their meeting at the sidelines of the 56th annual World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, today.

DAVOS, Switzerland >> President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today after talks with President Donald Trump in Davos that the terms of security guarantees for Ukraine had been finalized, but that the vital issue of territory in its war with Russia remains unsolved.

In what he said was a positive sign of progress in long-running peace talks to end the four-year conflict, Zelenskyy said negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. would hold trilateral meetings for the first time in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday.

He also said a deal was almost ready on economic recovery after the war with Russia, a key element of Kyiv-backed proposals to push back on an earlier U.S. peace plan seen as heavily favouring Moscow.

Zelenskyy and Trump, who have met half a dozen times since Trump returned to the White House last year and upended U.S. policy on Ukraine, both said today’s talks were positive.

“I think the meeting with President Zelenskyy was good. It’s an ongoing process,” Trump told reporters, saying that U.S. envoys were heading for talks in Moscow today. Asked what his message was for Putin, Trump replied, “The war has to end.”

Zelenskyy, who did not indicate that he discussed territory with Trump today, had said earlier this week he would only travel to Davos if he could sign agreements with Trump on U.S. security guarantees and post-war reconstruction funding for Ukraine.

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Zelenskyy has been saddled with an energy crisis at home from Russian air strikes that have left millions of Ukrainians across swaths of the capital and other regions without power and heating.

Zelenskyy described Russia’s months-long onslaught as an attempt by Putin to freeze Ukrainians to death. Invoking Trump’s operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to face charges before a U.S. court, he wondered aloud why Putin was not yet on trial.

U.S. envoy for Ukraine Steve Witkoff had told an audience at the World Economic Forum earlier today that good progress was being made in peace talks, after he met with Ukrainian and Russian officials in Davos.

“If both sides want to solve this, we’re going to get it solved,” Witkoff said.

Witkoff was due in Moscow later today with fellow U.S. envoy Jared Kushner — Trump’s son-in-law — for talks with Putin on the possible plan to end Europe’s deadliest war since World War II.

After those discussions, negotiators would head directly to Abu Dhabi, Witkoff said today, “where there will be military-to-military talks and discussion of the prosperity package”.

Russia has been cool on the U.S.-led peace push, demanding that Kyiv give up part of its eastern Donetsk region which Moscow has been unable to conquer despite grinding forward on the battlefield.

Putin said late on Wednesday that they would discuss a settlement on Ukraine and the possibility of using frozen Russian assets for reconstruction of Moscow-occupied land, as well as Trump’s proposal for a Board of Peace, tasked with promoting peace around the world.

Critics of the proposal have said it would rival or undermine the United Nations.

Russian airstrikes hit several parts of Ukraine today. In the southern region of Odesa, a 17-year-old man was killed when a drone struck an apartment building, the regional governor said.

Eleven people were also wounded in the central city of Kryvyi Rih when a ballistic missile slammed into a residential building, officials said.

In the capital Kyiv, nearly 3,000 high-rises across the city remained without heating today after Russia’s latest attack earlier this week.

See more:Russia Attacks UkraineWorld news

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