ZELENSKYY SAYS NO PROGRESS YET IN TALKS WITH US ON TERRITORIAL ISSUE

MOSCOW, Dec 16 (Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti) -- Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that it had not yet been possible to reach agreement with the United States on the territorial issue in the context of resolving the armed conflict with Russia, Sputnik/RIA Novosti reported.

On Dec 14, negotiations on a Ukrainian settlement were held in Berlin to discuss a 20-point peace plan. The meeting was attended by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Zelenskyy. The talks lasted five hours. A second round of settlement talks took place in Berlin on Monday.

"Our representatives will continue dialogue with their American colleagues. The Ukrainian delegation is working almost around the clock to achieve results ... Not all issues are simple. There are complex ones, particularly regarding territories … There has been sufficient dialogue regarding territories. I believe we currently have different positions," Zelenskyy said at a press conference on Monday.

On Monday, the Politico newspaper reported that Ukraine rejected a proposal for a demilitarised "free economic zone" in Donbas.

Since mid-November, the US has been promoting a new peace plan for Ukraine. On Dec 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin received Witkoff and Kushner in the Kremlin. The US representatives' visit to Russia was related to the discussion of the US peace plan for Ukraine. Putin said the US divided the initial 27-point settlement plan presented to Russia into four parts and proposed discussing them separately.

--BERNAMA-SPUTNIK