The Kremlin said on Thursday (January 29, 2026) that Russia had reiterated its invitation for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to come to Moscow for peace talks, as U.S.-led efforts to reach a deal to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine intensify.
The Kremlin made its statement as the two countries carried out their latest exchange of war dead, and hours after it declined to comment on rumours that Moscow and Kyiv have agreed to stop striking each other's energy infrastructure.
Trump says he asked Putin not to target Kyiv for 1 week during brutal cold spell
Washington-mediated peace talks in Abu Dhabi last weekend have injected some new momentum into efforts to clinch a peace deal, but profound differences persist between the Russian and Ukrainian negotiating stances. Fierce fighting is still raging, while Kyiv battles debilitating power outages caused by recent missile strikes.
An unnamed U.S. official told Axios on Saturday that Mr. Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin were "very close" to setting up a meeting after the U.S.-mediated talks.
