KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky scrambled to get to Switzerland on Thursday for a high-stakes meeting with President Donald Trump that almost didn’t happen — and appeared to take Kyiv by surprise.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Trump said that he planned to meet with Zelensky that day, adding that he might even “be in the audience” — when, in fact, Zelensky was still in Kyiv, where temperatures hover well below freezing and thousands of high-rise buildings have no electricity or heat from Russia’s continued assault on the power grid.
As the forum was underway Tuesday, Zelensky told reporters he was “choosing Ukraine, not an economic forum,” dashing hopes that a bilateral meeting might lead to the inking of frameworks for security guarantees and postwar economic recovery. Officials had hinted the two countries were close to the finish line — until Trump’s new focus on Greenland appeared to sidetrack progress. Zelensky expressed his support for the sovereignty of Denmark.
Then Trump abruptly announced Wednesday that both sides were “reasonably close.”
“I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done,” Trump said. “And if they don’t, they’re stupid.”
Trump, who is scheduled to meet with Zelensky around 1 p.m. local time, added that “it’s a very difficult balance,” saying that “oftentimes we’ll have a deal with Russia. Russia is set, and President Zelensky will not do it … and then we’ll have President Zelensky wants to make a deal, and Putin doesn’t want to make the deal.”
As Zelensky touched down in Switzerland on Thursday, White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner — who met with lead Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov on the sidelines of the forum — were preparing to head to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking at the forum’s Ukrainian Breakfast on Thursday morning, Witkoff said that he felt “encouraged” and described the Ukrainian people as “so courageous in this fight … under some real difficult conditions.”
“I think we’ve got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue,” Witkoff said, appearing to gesture at territorial concessions, one of the most contentious aspects of the negotiations and a red line for Ukraine. “That means it’s solvable. So if both sides want to solve this, we are going to get this solved; that’s my view.”
Previous meetings between Witkoff and Putin have lasted hours and will likely continue into early Friday morning, though Witkoff said he will not be spending the night and will continue on to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, afterward.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on whether the Kremlin shared Witkoff’s optimism that a deal was close. At a news conference, Putin said he would also discuss Russia’s contribution to Trump’s Board of Peace with Witkoff and Kushner.
As world leaders congregated in Davos, enjoying mountain views, plush lodges and crackling fireplaces, Ukraine’s power grid remained crippled during one of the coldest winters in years. Without electricity, many Ukrainians sat in restaurants and coffee shops — warmed by generators — and prepared for news of their future as Trump met their president.
Outside, inches of ice slicked the streets and sidewalks. The windows of thousands of apartments remained dark.
Robyn Dixon in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.
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