Volodymyr Zelensky may travel to the US in the coming days as Ukrainian and American officials work to secure a peace deal before Thanksgiving on Thursday.
The trip is dependent on how negotiations between US officials and their Ukrainian counterparts in Geneva are perceived to have gone, Ukrainian and US officials told CBS News.
The US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the talks in Switzerland had been “meaningful” but warned the two sides were still apart in terms of reaching a final agreement.
“I think this was a very, very meaningful – I would say probably best – meeting and day we’ve had so far in this entire process, going back to when we first came into office in January,” he said.
“But there’s still some work left to do and that’s what our teams are going to be doing right now.”
Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said: “We have very good progress and we are moving forward to the just and lasting peace.”
The Ukrainian president said on Monday that he will continue to work with partners, including the US, on peace proposals as a second day of talks in Geneva got underway.
“We all continue working with partners, especially the United States, to look for compromises that will strengthen but not weaken us,” Mr Zelensky said via video link from Sweden, where he was attending a summit of countries seeking Russian withdrawal from Ukraine’s occupied Crimea peninsula.
On Sunday, Ukraine and the US said in a joint statement they had drafted a “refined peace framework”, although they did not provide specifics.
Mr Zelensky said Russia must pay for the war in Ukraine and that a decision on using frozen Russian assets was crucial.
“Right now, we are at a critical moment,” he said. “There is a lot of noise in the media, and all the political pressure, and even greater responsibility for the decisions ahead.”
The urgent talks come after the Trump administration announced its proposal to end the war in Ukraine, which would force Kyiv into giving up land while compensating the United States for upholding the peace.
The 28-point plan, drawn up following talks between Washington and Moscow, offers a guarantee of US protection for Ukraine.
In return, Kyiv must give up on its Nato ambitions and European allies agree not to station troops in Ukraine, rebuffing British-led plans to deploy international peacekeepers.
