Zelenskiy seeks new Trump meeting as peace negotiators tackle land issue

By Dan Peleschuk and Yuliia Dysa

KYIV, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday he wanted a new meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump as their officials revisited the two most problematic issues in talks aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Kyiv is under U.S. pressure to secure peace but wants security guarantees from allies and is pushing back on Russian demands to cede its eastern Donetsk region and give up control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Speaking to reporters over WhatsApp on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said he wanted another meeting with Trump soon to gauge his openness to a Ukrainian proposal that Washington ensure security for Kyiv for more than 15 years in the event of a ceasefire.

He also urged Trump to step up pressure on Russia, which has been cool on the U.S.-backed peace push and is pressing on with its massive air attacks on Ukrainian cities and the country’s energy grid.

“The Americans, in my view, are being productive right now; we have good results… They need to put pressure on Russia. They have the tools, and they know how to use them,” Zelenskiy said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suggestion of a new meeting between Zelenskiy and Trump.

Citing the recent U.S. operation to seize Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Zelenskiy suggested Washington could similarly move against Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a Vladimir Putin ally whose troops became known for their brutality in Ukraine.

“Maybe then Putin would see it and think twice,” he said.

Talks in Paris this week produced commitments from Kyiv’s allies to back up a ceasefire with guarantees such as a multinational troop presence.

But Zelenskiy said the expression of “political will” had yet to be translated into legally binding pledges backed by national parliaments.

STUMBLING BLOCKS IN PEACE PROCESS

Zelenskiy spoke as U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Paris discussed the matter of territory and the fate of the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, which he described as the two thorniest issues in the talks.

Kyiv has refused to pull out of the industrialised Donetsk region, which Russia has failed to seize entirely despite occupying wide swathes of it. Zelenskiy has said the U.S. has floated the idea of a free economic zone there if Ukraine withdraws from the parts of the region that it still controls.

On Tuesday, U.S. and Ukrainian officials had already talked through “some ideas” to address the issue of territory, he said. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff said “land options” had been discussed and that he hoped for compromise to be reached.

The U.S. has also proposed trilateral operation of the Zaporizhzhia plant, which Moscow captured in 2022 and connected to its own power grid, with an American chief manager, Zelenskiy said last month.

Kyiv has instead proposed joint Ukrainian-American use of the plant, according to Zelenskiy, with the U.S. itself determining how to use 50% of the energy produced.

NO NEW DEMANDS

Zelenskiy and other top officials have engaged in high-stakes shuttle diplomacy for weeks to end the war, despite few indications that Russia will sign onto a deal that falls short of its maximalist demands.

Speaking later on Wednesday during a visit to Cyprus, Zelenskiy urged Kyiv’s allies to increase pressure on Moscow and avoid asking Kyiv to make painful concessions.

“We are doing everything required on our side in the negotiation process. And we expect that no additional or excessive demands will be placed on Ukraine,” he said.

Zelenskiy added that it was possible the war could be concluded by mid-2026.

(Writing by Dan PeleschukEditing by Hugh Lawson and Frances Kerry)