Putin meets Trump’s envoys as Kremlin says Ukraine settlement hinges on territory

Key Highlights

• push for a peace settlement.
• Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who participated in Putin’s meeting with Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, said “it was reaffirmed that reaching a long-term settlement can’t be expected without solving the territorial issue,” a reference to Moscow’s demand that Kyiv withdraws its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but never fully captured.
• Zelenskyy said after meeting Thursday with Trump in Davos, Switzerland, that the future status of land in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia is unresolved but that peace proposals are “nearly ready.” On a positive note, Ushakov told reporters that it was agreed that Russian, Ukrainian and U. S.
• officials will hold talks on security issues related to a prospective peace deal in the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
• Ushakov noted that Trump’s envoys informed Putin about Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy, as well as earlier discussions they had with Ukrainian and European officials.