Zelenskyy says Ukraine territory ‘most difficult’ issue as US envoy Witkoff heads to meet Putin | World News

President Donald Trump greets Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. (AP Photo)

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Kyiv’s priorities during peace talks to end the four year old war with Russia remains Ukraine’s sovereignty and securing strong security guarantees for the country as he acknowledged that territorial issue is one of the most difficult ones as Russia claimed that it captured the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Monday, BBC reported.

Russia has said that Ukraine needs to give up areas of eastern Donbas region which the Kyiv has said that it will never do and hence Zelenskyy said “the territorial issue is the most difficult” in the peace talks to end the war. Zelenskyy said this while speaking to French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris as he was joined other European leaders via call, including those of the UK, Germany, Poland, and Italy.

Meanwhile, the US and Ukrainian negotiators finished their two days of meeting in Florida where they were working to revise a 28-point peace plan, sponsored US President Donald Trump which has been viewed as favouring Russia interests.

I spoke with the President of Finland earlier today – @alexstubb and I continue our coordination. I briefed him on our delegation’s work yesterday in the United States – everything was very constructive. There are some tough issues that still have to be worked through. Our…— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 1, 2025

The White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt briefed about the meeting on Monday and said the talks struck a positive note, adding the adminration “feels very optimic” about a deal being reached to end the war. In a post on X, Zelenskyy said the talks were “very constructive” but there are “some tough issues that still have to be worked through” as he appeared circumspect of the situation.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who was present during the talks with the Ukrainian delegation, is bound to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. The duo would be joined President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

Reports said that Witkoff has spoken about the Ukraine peace plan with Zelenskyy, UK Prime Miner Keir Starmer and Ukrainian chief negotiator Rustem Umerov and he is expected to detail the results of the talks to Putin on Tuesday.