The president of the United States, Donald Trump, met this Thursday in Davos with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a meeting that both described as positive and that is part of the White House's efforts to move toward ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.
"I think the meeting was good. It's an ongoing process and a lot of people are dying", Trump stated to the press after the meeting, which lasted just under an hour. The U.S. president stressed the urgency of ending the conflict and maintained that in the last month alone around 30,000 people have died, mostly soldiers. "It's really a war that has to end. Everyone wants it to end", he emphasized.
Trump activates his direct channel with Moscow
As part of his diplomatic strategy, Trump confirmed that his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will maintain direct contacts with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as part of a framework of multilateral negotiations aimed at exploring a way out of the conflict.
According to the president himself, the talks are part of a coordinated effort that includes subsequent meetings in the Middle East on military and economic issues, which reinforces the profile of the United States as the only actor with real capacity for dialogue with all the parties involved.
From the Ukrainian side, the assessment was also positive. Zelensky described the meeting as "very good" and, according to the Presidency of Ukraine, both leaders also held a brief one-on-one conversation toward the end of the meeting, a gesture that reinforces the direct political channel between Washington and Kyiv.
The Peace Board and Trump's role
Trump clarified that during the meeting they didn't address the recently established Peace Board, officially presented in Davos and to which both Zelensky and Putin were invited. The Ukrainian president had indicated in advance that he wouldn't join that forum if the Russian leader also participated.
