Zelensky says peace talks wrestling with Russian demands for Ukrainian territory

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said negotiators are wrestling with the question of territorial possession in US-led peace talks on ending the war with Russia.

The issues include the future of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the world’s 10 biggest atomic plants.

Mr Zelensky revealed details of discussions before he headed into urgent talks with leaders and officials from about 30 countries that support Kyiv’s efforts to obtain fair terms in any settlement to halt nearly four years of fighting.

In Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is continuing discussions with both sides. She said that “if there is a real chance of signing a peace agreement”, then the US could send a representative to the talks as soon as this weekend.

But she added that it’s “still up in the air whether we believe real peace can be achieved”.

Mr Trump long boasted about being able to solve Russia’s war in Ukraine in a day, but in recent months has complained bitterly about a lack of progress. Ms Leavitt echoed that during her briefing with reporters on Thursday, saying the president is “extremely frustrated with both sides of this war”.

She said the administration had spent 30-plus hours in recent weeks meeting officials from Russia and Ukraine as well as Europe, and that the president is “sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting”.

“He doesn’t want any more talk,” Ms Leavitt said. “He wants action.”

Ukraine has submitted a 20-point plan to the US, with each point possibly accompanied by a separate document detailing the settlement terms.

“We are grateful that the US is working with us and trying to take a balanced position,” Mr Zelensky told reporters in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. “But at this moment it is still difficult to say what the final documents will look like.”

Moscow has in recent months made a determined push to gain control of all parts of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk, which make up Ukraine’s valuable Donbas industrial region.

Ukraine does not accept the surrender of Donbas, Mr Zelensky said, adding that both sides remaining along the line of contact would be “a fair outcome”.

US negotiators have put forward the possibility of a “free economic zone” in Donbas, with the Russians terming it a “demilitarised zone”, according to Mr Zelensky.

Russian officials have not publicly disclosed their proposals.

US negotiators foresee Ukrainian forces withdrawing from the Donetsk region, with the compromise being that Russian forces do not enter, Mr Zelensky said.

But he added that if Ukraine must withdraw its forces, the Russians should also withdraw by the same distance. There are many unanswered questions, including who would oversee Donbas, he added.

The Russians want to retain control of the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine, which is not currently operating, but Ukraine opposes that.

The Americans have suggested a joint format to manage the plant, and negotiators are discussing how that might work, Mr Zelensky said.

The leaders of Germany, Britain and France were among those taking part in the meeting of Ukraine’s allies, dubbed the Coalition of the Willing, by video link.

Mr Zelensky indicated the talks were hastily arranged as Kyiv officials scramble to avoid getting boxed in by Mr Trump, who has disparaged the Ukrainian president, painted European leaders as weak, and set a strategy of improving Washington’s relationship with Moscow.

In the face of Mr Trump’s demands for a swift settlement, European governments are trying to steer the peace negotiations because they say their own security is at stake.

Next week, Ukraine will co-ordinate with European countries on a bilateral level, Mr Zelensky said late on Wednesday, and European Union countries are due to hold a regular summit in Brussels at the end of next week.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that Russia has relayed to Washington “additional proposals… concerning collective security guarantees” that Ukraine and Europe say are needed to deter future aggression.

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said Russia has launched more than 46,000 drones and missiles against Ukraine so far this year.

He warned his European audience at a speech in Berlin: “We are Russia’s next target.”