Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has had a difficult discussion with US negotiators about Russia’s territorial demands, Axios reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Zelensky spoke over the phone on Saturday with US peace envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and informal adviser Jared Kushner.
According to Axios, the discussion about territory was “difficult,” as Kiev has rejected Russia’s key demand to withdraw troops from the Donbass. The US has been “trying to develop new ideas to bridge the issue,” the publication cited its source as saying.
The sides made “significant progress and neared agreement” on US security guarantees for Ukraine.
Zelensky described the call on X as “long and substantive,” adding that Ukraine was “determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace.”
Trump previously hinted that Ukraine may have to make territorial concessions to Russia, arguing that Moscow would eventually take full control of the Donbass.
Witkoff and Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Tuesday. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that although the sides had disagreements, the conversation was “very useful and constructive.”
During his trip to India on Thursday, Putin told local media that Russia would push Ukrainian troops out of the Donbass by force if they refused to withdraw. He previously said that, for a lasting peace, Ukraine must recognize Russia’s new borders and drop its bid to join NATO in favor of permanent neutrality.
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