Ukraine, US agree to continue talks in Davos — Umerov
However, Ukrainian Security and Defense Council Secretary said nothing about a potential meeting between Vladimir Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in Davos on January 19-23
MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. The Ukrainian and US delegations have agreed to continue discussions on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukrainian Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov said after another round of talks in Florida this weekend.
"We discussed economic development and the prosperity plan, as well as security guarantees for Ukraine, with a focus on practical mechanisms for their implementation," Umerov wrote on his Telegram channel. "We agreed to continue working at the team level during the next stage of consultations in Davos."
However, he said nothing about a potential meeting between Vladimir Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in Davos on January 19-23. Trump is expected to take part in the Davos Forum. It is not ruled out either that Zelensky will arrive in Davos.
According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian delegation in Florida included chief of Zelensky’s office Kirill Budanov (put on Russia’s register of terrorists and extremists) and head of the ruling Servant of the People party’s parliamentary faction David Arakhamia. The United States was represented by US President Donald Trump’s special representative Steve Witkoff, entrepreneur and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll, and White House official Josh Gruenbaum.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) member Alexey Goncharenko (designated as terrorist and extremist in Russia) wrote on his Telegram channel that the US-Ukraine talks in Florida were not proceeding smoothly and are unlikely to yield positive results.
Zelensky acknowledged on Friday that there are several issues on which Ukraine is "not on the same page" in talks with the United States.
US President Donald Trump said on January 15 that the settlement of the conflict was stuck in the mud due to Kiev’s position. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that he shares Trump’s opinion, blaming Zelensky for impeding the peace process.