Russia demands Ukraine's Donbas

Talks with US envoys 'useful', Kremlin says

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Russia's President Vladimir Putin welcomes US special envoy Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service Josh Gruenbaum during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday.

(AFP)

Russia said it was not dropping its key demand that Ukraine pull out of its eastern Donbas region, ahead of three-way talks between Ukrainian, Russian and American officials in the UAE later yesterday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said territory remained the key issue and would be on the agenda for the talks, which look set to be the first direct public negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv on a plan being pushed by US President Donald Trump to end the almost four-year-long war.

High-level teams from the three countries were headed for Abu Dhabi for the negotiations — a day after US President Donald Trump met with Zelensky in Davos and hours after US envoy Steve Witkoff held late-night talks with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

While a diplomatic push to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II has gained pace in recent weeks, Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a postwar settlement.

Russia, which launched its invasion in 2022, said yesterday it was not dropping its maximalist demand that Kyiv withdraw from the eastern Donbas region — a term deemed unacceptable to Ukraine.