KYIV, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine on Monday remained far apart on territorial issues that are blocking a peace deal, despite progress on security guarantees for Kyiv at talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump said after his talks with the Ukrainian president on Sunday that they were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to an agreement to end Russia’s war in Ukraine but that “thorny issues” were still there.
Zelenskyy said two main issues outlined in a 20-point peace proposal remained to be resolved — control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is in Russian hands, and the fate of the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine.
“Two questions remain: the station - how will the station operate? - and the territory,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Monday.
Underlining how far apart Kyiv and Moscow are on territory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine must withdraw its troops from the small part of Donbas that it still controls, and that Kyiv would lose more land if it did not agree to a deal.
