US President Donald Trump has again portrayed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the principal obstacle to a negotiated end to Russia’s war against Ukraine, saying Kyiv is holding up a US-backed peace arrangement.
In an interview with Reuters on 15 January 2026, Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared to make a deal, while Zelenskyy was not.
The remarks come days before the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos-Klosters, scheduled for 19–23 January 2026. Trump has indicated he may meet Zelenskyy there, saying a meeting was possible if the Ukrainian leader attends. The forum has confirmed Trump’s participation, and Swiss media have reported that Zelenskyy is also expected to be present.
Trump’s latest comments sit alongside continued Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy system during a period of severe cold. Ukrainian officials have reported sustained attacks on electricity and gas infrastructure, with widespread disruptions to heat and power supplies in parts of the country. One of the largest Russian missile-and-drone attacks of the year so far took place overnight on 12–13 January, with casualties reported and emergency power outages across multiple regions.
On 14 January, Zelenskyy said he would declare a state of emergency in the energy sector to speed coordination and repairs after repeated attacks disrupted power and heating, including in Kyiv. Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz said it would not restrict gas supplies to households and businesses despite damage to domestic production facilities, while electricity limits have been imposed in some areas because of reduced generating capacity.
The diplomatic backdrop is a US-led negotiation track that Washington says has focused on security guarantees for Ukraine and possible approaches to territorial questions. In the Reuters interview, Trump suggested Zelenskyy’s position was the main reason progress had stalled, though he did not set out detailed evidence for the claim. Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected territorial concessions, and Reuters noted that Kyiv cites constitutional constraints in this regard.
Moscow, for its part, has signalled it does not regard interim arrangements as sufficient. On 14 January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said talk of a ceasefire without a comprehensive peace agreement was “not serious”, adding that Moscow would welcome briefings from Washington on the latest proposals. The comments followed reporting that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump adviser Jared Kushner planned to travel to Moscow to meet Putin.
Witkoff and Kushner have been central to the US channel. Reuters reported in December that the pair led talks in Berlin on a draft framework that could provide “Article 5-like” security assurances for Ukraine without NATO membership. US officials cited monitoring and deconfliction measures as part of the concept, while acknowledging that the scope of any US commitment remained unclear and that territorial questions were unresolved.
Negotiators also discussed a “prosperity package” linked to reconstruction, with references to coordination involving the World Bank and a team formed by BlackRock’s chief executive. That discussion has returned to prominence as Davos approaches, where economic policy and investment themes tend to dominate side meetings as much as security questions.
Trump’s public framing of the talks differs from assessments in several European capitals, where officials have questioned whether Moscow is prepared to accept a settlement on terms compatible with Ukraine’s sovereignty. European allies argue Russia lacks genuine interest in ending the war, even as Washington has maintained that a deal is attainable.
If Trump and Zelenskyy meet in Davos, the agenda is likely to include the unresolved elements already described by US and Russian officials: the nature of any security guarantees, the sequencing of commitments in relation to battlefield conditions, and the extent to which reconstruction planning can proceed while major attacks on critical infrastructure continue. At the same time, Moscow’s insistence on a full agreement before any ceasefire, and Kyiv’s refusal to concede territory, leave limited room for rapid movement.
For now, the immediate pressure on the Ukrainian side is practical as well as diplomatic. With temperatures reported near minus 20°C in parts of the country and further strikes continuing, the resilience of the energy system has become a central factor shaping both domestic management and Ukraine’s external messaging to allies in the run-up to Davos.
