Zelenski announces, after the meeting with Trump, that they clapped for security guarantees. “Everything revolves” now around the great unsolved problem

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, after talks with his American counterpart Donald Trump in Davos, that the terms of security guarantees for Ukraine have been finalized, but that the vital issue – that of territories – in the war with Russia remains unresolved, reports Reuters.

In what he described as a positive sign of progress in long-running peace talks aimed at ending the four-year conflict, Zelenskiy said negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the US would hold their first trilateral meetings in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday.

The Ukrainian leader also said a deal on post-war economic recovery with Russia was nearing completion, a key element of Kiev-backed proposals to reject an earlier US peace plan seen as heavily favoring Moscow.

“The security guarantees are ready,” he said at a press conference on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, after meeting with Trump there, adding about these guarantees that “the document must be signed by the parties, by the presidents, and then it will go to the national parliaments” for ratification, namely the Ukrainian parliament and the US Congress.

Zelenski did not provide concrete details about these guarantees.

The leader from Kiev added, however, that the issue of the territories in eastern Ukraine has not yet been resolved.

“Everything revolves around the eastern part of our country. (…) We are all discussing one issue, which is the most difficult and has not yet been resolved. I think that at the trilateral meetings the parties can present each other's proposals. Everything revolves around the territories,” Zelenskiy emphasized, quoted by AFP.

“Positive” Talk

Zelenskiy and Trump – who have met six times since the Republican returned to the White House last year and changed US policy towards Ukraine – both said Thursday's talks were positive.

“I think the meeting with President Zelenskiy was good. It's an ongoing process,” Trump told reporters, adding that US envoys were heading to Moscow for talks on Thursday. Asked what his message was to Putin, Trump replied: “The war must end.”

Zelenskiy, who did not say whether he discussed territorial matters with Trump during their meeting on Thursday, said earlier this week that he would come to Davos only if he could sign deals with the US president on US security guarantees and funding for Ukraine's post-war reconstruction.

Zelenskiy is facing an energy crisis in the country, caused by incessant Russian airstrikes that have left millions of Ukrainians in the capital Kiev and other regions without electricity and heating.

Zelenskiy described Russia's bombing, which has been going on for months, as an attempt by Putin to freeze Ukrainians to death. Citing Trump's operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to be tried by a US court, he wondered aloud why Putin is not yet on trial.

US Special Envoy for Ukraine Steve Witkoff told an audience at the World Economic Forum on Thursday that significant progress had been made in peace talks after meeting with Ukrainian and Russian officials in Davos.

“If both parties want to resolve this issue, we will resolve it,” Witkoff said.

Negotiations with Putin in Moscow

Special envoy Witkoff was due to travel to Moscow later on Thursday with his colleague, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, for talks with Putin on a possible plan to end Europe's bloodiest war since World War II.

After those talks, negotiators will head straight to Abu Dhabi, Witkoff said Thursday, “where there will be talks between the military representatives and the prosperity package will be discussed.”

Russia has been extremely reserved about US-led peace efforts, demanding that Kiev give up part of the eastern Donetsk region, which Moscow has failed to capture despite advances on the battlefield.

Putin said late Wednesday that they would discuss a solution to Ukraine and the possibility of using frozen Russian assets to rebuild territories occupied by Moscow, as well as Trump's proposal to establish a so-called Peace Council to promote peace around the world.

Critics of the proposal stated that this Council would rival or undermine the United Nations.

The Kremlin announced that Putin's meeting with Witkoff and Kushner would take place after 19:00 Moscow time (16:00 GMT).

Ukraine's international bonds rose more than 2 cents on Thursday amid hopes in financial markets that high-level diplomatic meetings could lead to progress in ending the war.

Russia continues its attacks

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

Eleven people were also injured in the central city of Krivoi Rog when a ballistic missile hit a residential building, Ukrainian officials said.

In the capital Kiev, nearly 3,000 high-rise buildings in the city were left without heating on Thursday, following Russia's latest attack earlier this week.