Zelenskyy says deal on territory is focus of next talks with US

Daryna Krasnolutska and Aliaksandr Kudrytski, Bloomberg News on Feb 11, 2026

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he accepted a U.S. offer to host another round of talks next week to end Russia’s war, with negotiators likely to zero in on the difficult issue of territory.

The newest round is slated for Tuesday or Wednesday, Zelenskyy told Bloomberg News, though it’s unclear whether Russia would agree to talks in the U.S. On the agenda is a U.S. proposal to set up a free economic zone as a buffer in the eastern Donbas region, an option that the Ukrainian leader said both warring parties view with skepticism.

“None of the sides is keen on the idea of the free economic zone — neither the Russians, nor us,” Zelenskyy said in a phone interview in Kyiv on Tuesday, though he declined to rule out the possibility. “We have different views on it. And agreements were as follows — let’s come back with the vision of what it may look like for the next meeting.”

President Donald Trump’s envoys are intensifying efforts to end Russia’s full-scale invasion against Ukraine as it approaches its fifth year and the question of territories is the key sticking point.

A previous round of talks earlier this month between Russian, Ukrainian and American officials in Abu Dhabi was constructive, Zelenskyy said, adding that the war could end within months if negotiations proceed in good faith.

Kyiv’s favored option for Donbas – where the Kremlin is standing by its demand to control the entire region, including parts it’s been unable to seize militarily – is for troops to remain in place along the front line. In discussions over who controls the buffer zone, the U.S. must clarify its position, he said.

“If it is our territory — and it is our territory — then the country whose territory it is should govern it,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian leader has said earlier that the U.S. midterm elections in November are creating pressure on the Trump administration to secure a peace deal in Ukraine. He told reporters last week Trump’s team has proposed wrapping up all necessary negotiations to end the fighting by June.

The U.S. administration wants to sign all the documents at the same time, Zelenskyy said. He stressed that Ukraine will need to approve the peace proposal either in a parliamentary vote or in a national referendum.

The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said that he intends to call a referendum on any peace deal after the fighting stops. The head of Zelenskyy’s party in parliament, David Arakhamiya, told reporters last month that Kyiv may finish drafting a law on a referendum by the end of February and that such a ballot should be held together with a presidential vote.

“For the time being we are also talking about a sequencing plan of all our actions, including signing of documents,” Zelenskyy said. “I think that after our next meeting, there should be an understanding.”

Ceasefire mechanics

Recent talks in the United Arab Emirates focused on the mechanics of a ceasefire and how it would be monitored by the U.S., according to Zelenskyy. But negotiators were unable to finalize details without higher-level political decisions, he said.

As negotiators pore over the wording of the pending agreement, Zelenskyy said the discussions made clear that any truce would require monitoring that involved U.S. participation.

“Russians have one wording, we have another one, the Americans have the third one,” Zelenskyy said. “There is an understanding that there will be monitoring, but there is also an understanding more work is needed on wording and details.”

The next round of negotiations, which will also include bilateral talks with Washington, may look into proposals for postwar planning and zoom in on the economic issues, he said. To that end, Kyiv will dispatch Economy Minister Oleksii Sobolev to join the delegation to discuss the so-called prosperity package with the U.S., Zelenskyy said.

Any optimism over progress shouldn’t obscure the difficulty Ukraine faces over recovery funding and maintaining the military capability to deter any future Russian attack, Zelenskyy said. An economic shock could loom without clear sources of financing, he warned, referring to billions of dollars needed for reconstruction, social spending the military for years to come.

That would require a clear funding mechanism, with European participation, since even potential financing from frozen Russian central bank assets wouldn’t cover needs in the longer term, he said.

Recent Russian air strikes on energy infrastructure knocked out as much as 10 gigawatts of Ukraine’s generating capacity, Zelenskyy said, leading to daily power deficits of about five to six gigawatts over peak hours. Some facilities won’t be repaired until the next heating season.