Russia-Ukraine peace talks ‘down to one issue’, says US envoy Witkoff

The announcement comes before a meeting between US President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Zelenskyy, in Davos.Published On 22 Jan 2026United States ‍envoy ‍Steve Witkoff says “a lot of progress” has been made in Russia-Ukraine peace talks and that negotiations are down to one last issue, as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump held what both described as constructive talks.“I think we’ve got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable,” Witkoff told an audience at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss city of Davos on Thursday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Tymoshenko vs Zelenskyy: Political clash over graft rocks wartime Ukrainelist 2 of 3Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,427list 3 of 3US, Russia envoys meet in Davos as Ukraine reconstruction plan postponedend of list“If both sides want to solve this, we’re going to get it solved,” he said.The US ‍envoy said he was headed to the Russian capital, Moscow, later in the day alongside Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.Witkoff said the pair would not stay in Moscow overnight but would fly to Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, where talks would continue in “military to military” working groups.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ‍said Moscow appreciated Witkoff’s diplomatic efforts to end the war but declined to comment on his ⁠stated optimism that a deal was close. Earlier this week, the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin would meet Witkoff during the visit.Meanwhile, Trump held what he called a “very good” meeting with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the WEF in Davos. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Trump said his message ⁠to Putin is that the war in Ukraine has ​to ‌end.Zelenskyy, for his part, described the meeting with Trump as “productive and substantive”.“The documents are now even better prepared,” added Zelenskyy, who previously said he would only travel to Davos if there was the opportunity to sign an agreement with Trump on resolving the nearly four-year war, including with security guarantees and post-war reconstruction funding for Ukraine.