WASHINGTON: Ukraine on Tuesday signalled support for the framework of a peace deal with Russia, but stressed that sensitive issues needed to be fixed at a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump.

Kyiv’s message hinted that an intense diplomatic push by the Trump administration could be yielding some fruit but any optimism could be short-lived, especially as Russia stressed it would not let any deal stray too far from its own objectives.

US and Ukrainian negotiators held talks on the latest US-backed peace plan in Geneva on Sunday. US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll then met on Monday and Tuesday with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi, a spokesperson for Driscoll said.

US and Ukrainian officials have been trying to narrow the gaps between them over the plan to end Europe’s deadliest and most devastating conflict since World War Two, with Ukraine wary of being strong-armed into accepting a deal largely on the Kremlin’s terms, including territorial concessions.

“Ukraine supports the framework’s essence, and some of the most sensitive issues remain as points for the discussion between presidents,” a Ukrainian official said.

Zelensky could visit the United States in the next few days to finalise a deal with Trump, Kyiv’s national security chief Rustem Umerov said, though no such trip was confirmed from the US side.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X that over the past week the US had made “tremendous progress towards a peace deal by bringing both Ukraine and Russia to the table”. She added: “There are a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details that must be sorted out and will require further talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States.” Oil prices extended an earlier decline after reports of Ukraine potentially agreeing to a war-ending deal.

Sensitive issues

US policy towards the war has zigzagged in recent months.

A hastily arranged summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August raised worries in Kyiv and European capitals that the Trump administration might accept many Russian demands, though the meeting ultimately resulted in more US pressure on Russia.

The 28-point plan that emerged last week caught many in the US government, Kyiv and Europe alike off-guard and prompted fresh concerns that the Trump administration might be willing to push Ukraine to sign a peace deal heavily tilted toward Moscow.

The plan would require Kyiv to cede territory beyond the almost 20pc of Ukraine that Russia has captured since its February 2022 full-scale invasion, as well as accept curbs on its military and bar it from ever joining Nato — conditions Kyiv has long rejected as tantamount to surrender.

The sudden push has raised the pressure on Ukraine and Zelensky, who is now at his most vulnerable since the start of the war after a corruption scandal saw two of his ministers dismissed, and as Russia makes battlefield gains.

Zelensky could struggle to get Ukrainians to swallow a deal viewed as selling out their interests.

He said on Monday the latest peace plan incorporated “correct” points after talks in Geneva.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2025