On Tuesday, US President Trump and the envoy of Russian President Putin expressed that their meeting in Davos, Switzerland regarding a potential peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine was “very positive” and “constructive.”
Following a meeting at the “USA House” in Davos with Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev stated: “The dialogue was constructive, and more and more people are understanding the fairness of Russia’s position.”
According to Russia’s state-owned news agency RIA Novosti (RIA), Witkoff remarked: “We had a very productive meeting.”
Reuters reported that a source who preferred to remain anonymous mentioned that the meeting lasted for two hours.
Key issues discussed in this meeting included how to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, the future of Ukraine, the extent of marginalization of major European powers, and whether the peace agreement mediated by the US can be sustainable.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the most intense confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cold War era.
The US has held multiple meetings with Russia as well as separate discussions with Ukrainian and European leaders on proposals to end the war in Ukraine, but an agreement has not been reached.
Ukraine’s European allies are concerned that the US may ask Ukraine to make territorial concessions.
Currently, Russia controls approximately 19% of Ukrainian territory, including the annexed Crimean Peninsula in 2014, most of the region of Donbas in eastern Ukraine, large portions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and small areas in four other regions.
Russia claims Crimea, Donbas, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia as its territories. Ukraine asserts that it will never accept this, and almost all countries consider these regions to be part of Ukraine.
The US stated that the Russia-Ukraine war has resulted in a total of one million casualties between both countries, though neither Russia nor Ukraine has disclosed casualty figures.
(This article references reports from Reuters.)