KYIV, Jan 7 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s top adviser hailed “concrete results” on Wednesday as talks in Paris on peace and security guarantees for Ukraine entered their second day, vowing Kyiv’s national interests would be protected.
Ukraine is seeking strong backing from allies in the event of a ceasefire with Russia while also pushing back on a Kremlin demand that it give up its eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace.
“Not all information can be public, but there are already concrete results, (and) our work continues,” Kyrylo Budanov, who was appointed head of Zelenskiy’s office last week, said on the Telegram app.
“Ukrainian national interests will be defended.”
Budanov’s statement follows comments by Zelenskiy late on Tuesday that U.S. and Ukrainian officials had discussed “some ideas” to address the issue of territory, which he said remains the biggest obstacle in the peace process.
Kyiv has refused to pull out of the industrialised Donbas and said the U.S. has offered the idea of a free economic zone in parts of the region from which it withdraws.
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff said separately on Tuesday that land options had been discussed during the Paris talks and would continue.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Hugh Lawson, William Maclean)
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