Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Ukraine settlement with US President Donald Trump’s envoys during marathon talks overnight, and the Kremlin insisted the territorial issue must be resolved to reach a peace deal.
The meeting in the Kremlin, which lasted until 3 a.m. on Friday, came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sharply criticized his European allies on Thursday for what he saw as their slow and piecemeal response to Russia’s nearly four-year-old invasion, which he said had left Ukraine at the mercy of Putin amid an ongoing US peace effort.
Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who attended Putin’s meeting with Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, said it was “reaffirmed that a long-term settlement cannot be reached without resolving the territorial issue,” a reference to Moscow’s demand that Kiev withdraw its troops from areas illegally annexed by Russia but not illegally annexed.
Zelenskyy said after Thursday’s meeting with Trump in Davos, Switzerland, that the future status of land in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia was unresolved, but that peace proposals were “almost ready.”
On a positive note, Ushakov told reporters that it had been agreed that Russian, Ukrainian and US officials would hold talks on security issues related to a possible peace deal in the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
Ushakov noted that Trump’s envoys briefed Putin on Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy, as well as previous discussions they had with Ukrainian and European officials. The Kremlin talks which he described as “frank, constructive” and “fruitful” began just before midnight in Moscow and lasted nearly four hours.
Witkoff and Kushner were joined by Josh Gruenbaum, the head of the Federal Acquisition Service, who serves as a senior adviser on Trump’s Peace Council, which Russia has been invited to join. As Russia considers the invitation, Putin reiterated his offer to send $1 billion to the board from Russian assets frozen in the US to help finance the reconstruction of Gaza.
Asked about Putin’s proposal to use frozen Russian assets to contribute to the Peace Council, Trump said he thought it was fine. “If he uses his money, that’s great,” he said
Trump’s meeting with Zelensky
Zelensky met with Trump behind closed doors for about an hour at the World Economic Forum in Davos, describing the meeting as “productive and meaningful.”
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from Davos, Trump said his meeting with Zelenskyy had gone well, adding that both Putin and Zelenskyy wanted to reach an agreement and that “everybody is making concessions” to try to end the war.
He said the sticking points in the talks remain the same as during the past six or seven months of talks, noting that “boundaries” are a key issue. “The main bottleneck is the same things that have sustained him for the past year,” he said.
Russia’s larger army has managed to capture about 20 percent of Ukraine since hostilities began in 2014 and its full-scale invasion in 2022. But battlefield gains along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line have been costly for Moscow, and the Russian economy is feeling the effects of war and international sanctions.
Ukraine is cash-strapped and, despite a significant increase in arms production, still needs Western weaponry. It is also shortened on the first line. Its defense minister last week reported about 200,000 troop desertions and network avoidance by about 2 million Ukrainians.
Zelenskyi attacks European allies
Addressing the World Economic Forum after his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy listed a series of grievances and criticisms of Europe.
European countries, which see their own future defense at stake in the war on its eastern flank, have offered financial, military and humanitarian support to Kiev, but not all members of the 27-nation European Union are helping. Ukraine has also been frustrated by political disagreements in Europe over how to deal with Russia, as well as the bloc’s sometimes slow responses.
“Europe seems lost,” Zelensky said in his speech, urging the continent to become a global force. He contrasted Europe’s response with Washington’s bold measures in Venezuela and Iran.
The former comic actor referred to the movie “Groundhog Day”, where the main character has to relive the same day over and over again.
“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words: Europe must know how to defend itself. A year has passed. And nothing has changed. We are still in a situation where I have to say the same words again,” Zelenskyy said.
He chided Europe for being slow to act on key decisions, spending too little on defense, failing to stop Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers that violate international sanctions and not using its frozen assets in Europe to fund Ukraine, among other things.
More discussions in the United Arab Emirates
Zelenskyy said two days of trilateral meetings involving the US, Ukraine and Russia were to begin on Friday in the United Arab Emirates.
“The Russians have to be ready to compromise because, you know, everybody has to be ready, not just Ukraine, and that’s important to us,” he said.
Ushakov, the Kremlin adviser, confirmed that a Russian delegation would take part in Friday’s meeting in the United Arab Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi. He added that during the meeting in the Kremlin, the US expressed hope that it would “open up prospects for advancing the whole range of issues related to ending the conflict and reaching a peaceful settlement.”
Ushakov said that the Russian delegation will be led by the head of the military intelligence services, Adm. Igor Kostyukov. He added that Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, would hold separate talks on economic issues with Witkoff in Abu Dhabi.
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Hrabchuk reported from Kyiv, Ukraine and Manenkov from Davos, Switzerland. Air Force One’s Josh Boak, Meg Kinnard in Houston and Ali Swenson in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine