On Thursday, January 22, during his participation in the World Economic Forum in Davos, U.S. President Trump held bilateral talks with Ukrainian President Zelensky. Trump stated after the meeting that the message he conveyed to Russian President Putin was that the war between Russia and Ukraine “must come to an end”.
Before the meeting between Trump and Zelensky, U.S. and Ukrainian officials had engaged in weeks of intensive shuttle diplomacy regarding a Ukrainian peace plan.
Trump mentioned that he had a good meeting with the Ukrainian President. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow for talks on Thursday. Trump also called out to Putin saying, “the war must end”.
After the meeting with Trump on Thursday, Zelensky also urged Putin to end the war. He stated that the “documents” for ending the war are “close to completion”. Both the American and Ukrainian teams are “working almost every day” to put an end to this conflict.
“Ukraine is working with full sincerity and determination, which is yielding results. Russia too must be prepared to end this war and cease its aggression,” he said.
Zelensky further mentioned that officials from the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia will hold trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates on Friday. This indicates that peace negotiations aimed at ending the war are gaining momentum.
Trump’s special envoy Witkoff told CNBC on Wednesday that he and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will travel to Russia and discuss the issue of “land exchanges” related to Ukraine with Putin on Thursday.
“I believe we are now entering the phase of land exchanges – a previously unspoken and challenging issue for all. I think we have some very, very good ideas in this regard and hope we can make some progress,” he said.
On Wednesday, Putin stated that he would discuss solutions to the Ukrainian issue with U.S. representatives and the possibility of using frozen Russian assets for the reconstruction of Russian-occupied territories.
The Kremlin stated that the meeting between Putin, Witkoff, and Kushner would take place on Thursday evening from 7pm to 8pm Moscow time.
Witkoff mentioned on Thursday that following the talks, negotiators would head directly to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where “military discussions will be held, along with deliberations on a comprehensive prosperity plan”.