Zelenskyy says peace deal is close after Trump meeting but territory remains sticking point

The dispute over occupied territories in Ukraine continues to be a sticking point amid negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow as President Donald Trump seeks to help bring an end to the war between the neighboring countries. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News’ Bret Baier that a peace deal with Moscow could be close following his Sunday meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

“Even with one question today, we’ve been very close,” Zelenskyy told Baier on “Special Report.” “I think we have a problem with one question: It’s about territories.”

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Key issues about territory remain unresolved in talks that have taken place over months. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently said that the West must acknowledge the fact that Russia holds the advantage on the battlefield.

Zelenskyy has been reluctant to cede territory held by Russian forces since the war began in 2022 over to Moscow. 

Zelenskyy has suggested that Ukraine might be open to withdrawing from the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which Russia wants to annex, only if Ukrainian voters give their approval in a referendum. 

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“I think the compromise, if we do a free economic zone that we have, and we have to move some kilometers back. It means that Russia has to make minor steps some kilometers back,” Zelenskyy said. “This free economic zone will have specific rules. Something like this referendum is the way how to accept it or not accept it.”

Putin doesn’t want peace, Zelenskyy said, despite the mounting death toll for Russian forces. 

“I don’t trust Putin. He doesn’t want success for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “I believe he can say such words to President Trump… but it’s not true really.”

Following his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy said they were 90% agreed on a draft 20-point plan, despite Moscow showing no signs of budging on its territorial demands. 

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The meeting came after Trump spoke with Putin over the phone where they both agreed that a deal must be reached to end Europe’s longest war in 80 years. 

It also came a day after Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv a day earlier. Moscow also claimed that Putin’s home in the Novgorod region was the target of a Ukrainian drone attack overnight, which Ukraine denies.