DAVOS: US President Donald Trump on Thursday held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with the war in Ukraine remaining a key focus of discussions at the summit.
According to CNN, the meeting concluded after lasting around an hour. The Ukrainian Presidency had earlier said the talks between the two leaders were underway in Davos, before later confirming the meeting had ended.
After the closed-door interaction, Zelenskyy’s communications advisor said he had a “good meeting” with Trump in Davos on Thursday.
Trump later told reporters the meeting had gone well but said there is still “a long ways to go” toward ending the war with Russia. “The war has to end,” he said as he emerged from the meeting with Zelenskyy. “We hope it’s going to end. There are a lot of people being killed”.
The meeting took place amid indications that efforts to end the conflict are reaching a critical phase. Negotiations aimed at ending the conflict were “down to one issue,” US envoy Steve Witkoff said, according to CNN. A European official separately confirmed to the network that the issue was related to territory.
With the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting concluding, attention is now set to shift to the next steps in the diplomatic process. Trump officials are expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin next as part of efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement. “It’s an ongoing process,” Trump said. “Everybody wants to have the war end”.
Alongside these talks on Ukraine, Trump also used the Davos platform to formally launch his “Board of Peace” initiative, signing the charter for the new body at the World Economic Forum and describing it as a major step towards global conflict resolution.
