Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says he will meet Zelensky at Davos with peace deal ‘reasonably close’ – UK Times

Top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said he met US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in the Swiss resort of Davos.

Umerov said the meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum focused on security guarantees for Ukraine and a post-war recovery plan.

Umerov said a Ukrainian delegation had also met representatives of the US investment firm Blackrock, which is involved in rebuilding plans.

US president Donald Trump said Russian president Vladimir Putin has accepted his invitation to join Trump’s Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts, a statement that Putin quickly countered, saying that the invitation was only under consideration.

“He was invited. He’s accepted,” Trump told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland after meeting with Nato chief Mark Rutte.

Shortly after, Putin said Russia’s foreign ministry had been instructed to study Trump’s invitation to join his proposed Board of Peace and would reply in due course.

Putin said he saw the proposal mainly as part of efforts to deal with a Middle East peace settlement.

Even before any decision on joining the Board, Putin said Moscow was ready to provide $1bn – as required by Trump for long-term membership – “in view of Russia’s special relations with the Palestinian people”.

But he said this must be taken from the Russian assets frozen in Europe after his invasion of Ukraine.

An Uzbek man was handed a life sentence after a military court in Moscow found him guilty of killing top Russian general Igor Kirillov and his assistant in a Ukraine-backed bomb attack in 2024.

Uzbek national Akhmadzhon Kurbonov and three accomplices were found guilty of various crimes related to the Kirillov killing, including terrorism and the illegal trafficking of explosives, Russian investigators said yesterday.

The three accomplices were given jail sentences in maximum security correctional prison camps ranging from 18 to 25 years, the Investigative Committee, which handles serious crimes, said in a statement.

The sentencing comes a month after Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, and his assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, were killed outside an apartment building in Moscow after a bomb hidden in an electric scooter was remotely detonated.

Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service said it was behind the high-profile hit, one of a string of targeted killings it has organised inside Russia to punish people it deems responsible for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky appears set to travel to Switzerland to meet Donald Trump after all, having said earlier that he would be giving the World Economic Forum a miss.

Zelensky had said he “choose[s] Ukraine” and would stay home to help deal with the aftermath of repeated Russian airstrikes on Kyiv.

But on Wednesday Trump said he would be sitting down with Zelensky later the same day – even though the Ukrainian president wasn’t in the same country.

US officials said he had misspoken; they say a meeting is indeed on the cards but that it will now take place on Thursday.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said he would meet on Thursday with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have been tasked with finding a solution to Russia’s nearly four-year-old war with Ukraine.

Putin, quoted by Russian news agencies, said during a meeting of Russia’s Security Council that he would discuss the possible use of frozen Russian assets with the US envoys in connection with recovery work in regions affected by the war.

“This possibility is also under discussion with representatives of the US administration,” Russian news agencies quoted him as saying.

US president Donald Trump on Wednesday said he ‌thought “we’re reasonably close” to a deal to end the war ‌between Russia ​and ​Ukraine, adding he would meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky later ‍in ​the day.

“I ‍believe they’re at a point now ‍where they can ⁠come together and get a deal done. And if they don’t, they’re stupid,” he said, referring to the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.