{"id":537255,"date":"2026-01-23T15:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T15:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/537255\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T15:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T15:04:11","slug":"kremlin-says-territorial-issue-key-obstacle-to-ukraine-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/537255\/","title":{"rendered":"Kremlin says territorial issue key obstacle to Ukraine peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the future of Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donbas region will be a key focus as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States meet in Abu Dhabi on Friday for talks to end Russia\u2019s nearly four-year full-scale invasion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The three-way talks come hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the settlement in Ukraine<\/a> with U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s envoys during marathon overnight talks. The Kremlin insisted that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but never fully captured.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, reiterated his openness to establishing a free trade zone under Ukraine\u2019s control in the country\u2019s east. He said he discussed the proposal with Trump in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, and told reporters: \u201cI think it will be positive for our business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday is the first known time that officials from the Trump administration simultaneously meet with negotiators from both Ukraine and Russia. While it\u2019s unclear how the talks will unfold and many obstacles to peace remain, some see it as a sign that the parties are making headway in closing a deal. <\/p>\n

Zelenskyy told reporters after meeting Thursday with Trump in Davos, Switzerland, that while the future status of land in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia remains unresolved, the peace proposals are \u201cnearly ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kremlin offered little detail beyond calling the meeting a \u201cworking group on security issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kremlin insists on \u2018solving territorial issue\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s meeting will be in the format of Ukraine, Russia and the United States, and afterward the Europeans will certainly receive feedback from us,\u201d Zelenskyy told journalists in a WhatsApp audio message. <\/p>\n

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian delegation, headed by Adm. Kostyukov, comprises of military officials. He said the talks could extend into Saturday \u201cif necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Separately, Putin\u2019s envoy Kirill Dmitriev will hold talks with Trump\u2019s envoy Steve Witkoff on economic issues, he confirmed.<\/p>\n

Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who participated in Putin\u2019s meeting with Trump\u2019s envoys Witkoff and Jared Kushner, said \u201cit was reaffirmed that reaching a long-term settlement can\u2019t be expected without solving the territorial issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those talks, which began just before midnight in Moscow, lasted nearly four hours past 3 a.m. Friday. They came hours after Zelenskyy sharply criticized his European allies Thursday for what he cast as their slow and fragmented response that he said has left Ukraine at the mercy of Putin amid an ongoing U.S. push for a peace settlement.<\/p>\n

Ushakov noted that Trump\u2019s envoys informed Putin about Trump\u2019s meeting with Zelenskyy, as well as earlier discussions they had with Ukrainian and European officials. He described the talks with the U.S. as \u201cfrank, constructive\u201d and \u201cfruitful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witkoff and Kushner were joined by Josh Gruenbaum, the head of the Federal Acquisition Service who serves as a senior adviser on Trump\u2019s Board of Peace that Russia has been invited to join. While Russia is considering the invitation, Putin reaffirmed his offer to send $1 billion to the board from Russian assets frozen in the U.S. to help fund rebuilding Gaza.<\/p>\n

Asked about Putin\u2019s proposal to use Russia\u2019s frozen assets for the contribution to the Board of Peace, Trump said he thought it was fine. \u201cIf he\u2019s using his money, that\u2019s great,\u201d he said <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s meeting with Zelenskyy<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy met with Trump behind closed doors for about an hour at the World Economic Forum in Davos, describing the meeting as \u201cproductive and meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from Davos, Trump said his meeting with Zelenskyy went well, adding that both Putin and Zelenskyy want to reach a deal and that \u201ceveryone\u2019s making concessions\u201d to try to end the war.<\/p>\n

He said the sticking points in talks remain the same as they\u2019ve been during talks held during the past six or seven months, noting \u201cboundaries\u201d was a key issue. \u201cThe main hold-up is the same things that\u2019s been holding it up for the last year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s bigger army has managed to capture about 20% of Ukraine since hostilities began in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of 2022. But the battlefield gains along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line have been costly for Moscow, and the Russian economy is feeling the consequences of the war and international sanctions.<\/p>\n

Ukraine is short of money and, despite significantly boosting its own arms manufacturing, still needs Western weaponry. It is also short-handed on the front line. Its defense minister last week reported some 200,000 troop desertions, and draft-dodging by about 2 million Ukrainians.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy blasts European allies<\/p>\n

Addressing the World Economic Forum after meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy listed a litany of grievances and criticisms of Europe.<\/p>\n

European countries, which see their own future defense at stake in the war on its eastern flank, have provided financial, military and humanitarian support for Kyiv. But not all members of the 27-nation European Union are helping. Ukraine also has been frustrated by political disagreements within Europe over how to deal with Russia, as well as the bloc\u2019s at times slow-moving responses.<\/p>\n

\u201cEurope looks lost,\u201d Zelenskyy said in his speech, urging the continent to become a global force. He contrasted Europe\u2019s response with Washington\u2019s bold steps in Venezuela and Iran.<\/p>\n

The former comic actor referred to the movie \u201cGroundhog Day,\u201d in which the main character must relive the same day over and over again.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words: Europe needs to know how to defend itself. A year has passed. And nothing has changed. We are still in a situation where I must say the same words again,\u201d Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

He chided Europe for being slow to act on key decisions, spending too little on defense, failing to stop Russia\u2019s \u201dshadow fleet\u201d of oil tankers that are breaking international sanctions, and balking at using its frozen assets in Europe to finance Ukraine, among other things.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Hrabchuk reported from Kyiv, Ukraine and Manenkov from Davos, Switzerland. Josh Boak on Air Force One, Meg Kinnard in Houston and Ali Swenson from Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the future of Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donbas region will be a key focus as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":537256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[32474,3881,37325,69,440,8697,57,51,17966,237486,164729,50,80,257,3658,3657,235115,13226,52,273,3660,274,3656,33536,107,77429],"class_list":["post-537255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-ap-top-news","tag-dmitry-peskov","tag-donald-trump","tag-europe","tag-european-union","tag-general-news","tag-headlines","tag-jared-kushner","tag-josh-gruenbaum","tag-kirill-dmitriev","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-russia","tag-russia-government","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-steve-witkoff","tag-top-stories","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-government","tag-vladimir-putin","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-world-economic-forum","tag-world-news","tag-yuri-ushakov"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115945030537839387","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}