Zelenskyy ready to meet with Putin to address ‘sensitive’ issues in peace plan: Top Ukrainian diplomat

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to address the "most sensitive" issues in a 20-point peace plan to end the nearly four-year war.

In remarks to the Ukrainian online newspaper European Pravda published Tuesday, Sybiha said his country is looking to sign the peace plan under discussion since November last year provided that the deal is agreed upon while noting that the "most sensitive" issues have yet to be resolved, namely territories and the operation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

"It is precisely to resolve them that the president is ready to meet with Putin and discuss this," Sybiha said, expressing that he does not see the need to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, arguing they "should not create parallel tracks."

"There are negotiating teams that include representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And creating additional tracks is not timely and unnecessary," he said.

Commenting on talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi last week, Sybiha said there is progress in negotiations to end the conflict, due to which the trilateral talks took place.

He confirmed that bilateral discussions also took place in Abu Dhabi, describing the negotiations as "very complex," and noted that the conversations held were "very focused."

He also said that a separate track of negotiations took place involving military representatives from both sides, noting there were "substantive" discussions on the parameters of a ceasefire and on how such a halt to hostilities would be monitored or verified.

Sybiha also spoke about the 20-point framework document being discussed, saying it is a bilateral one which the US will sign with Ukraine.

"And with Russia, the US should sign (separately). As of now, this is exactly the structure that is being discussed, but negotiations are still ongoing. It is a process," he added.

On Monday, Zelenskyy said during his evening address that preliminary discussions are underway for another meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, saying these discussions indicate they would meet again on Feb. 1.

On the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the next round of US-mediated Russia-Ukraine peace talks is planned for next week, again in Abu Dhabi, while not providing an exact date.

Russia and Ukraine held two days of consultations on Jan. 23-24 in Abu Dhabi with the participation of the US. Both Kyiv and Washington described the talks as "constructive," while Peskov said contacts have begun in a constructive manner, though there is "significant work ahead."

On Thursday, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told an event in Davos, Switzerland that "a lot of progress" had been made in Russia-Ukraine peace talks and that negotiations were down to one last issue.