Ukraine peace deal hard because of hatred between Putin and Zelenskyy

An “abnormal hatred” between Russia and Ukraine’s leaders remains a barrier to ending the war, but a peace deal is getting closer, President Donald Trump said as he prepares to resume his peacemaker role.

“There’s tremendous hatred between President Zelenskyy and President Putin. That’s not good. That’s not good for settlements,” Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

“There’s abnormal hatred. With that being said, I think Russia wants to make a deal. I think Ukraine wants to make a deal, and we’re going to try getting a deal done,” he said, adding: “If they don’t, they’re stupid.”

Trump is due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Davos on Thursday, while Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow later in the day.

Trump said both sides were “reasonably close” to a deal, while Witkoff told CNBC Wednesday that “land deals” over Ukraine were a last sticking point to ending the almost four-year long war.

Witkoff made further comments on the progress of negotiations on Thursday, telling an audience in Davos that one last issue remained. “So if both sides want to solve this, we’re going to get it solved,” Witkoff said, in comments reported by Reuters.

Zelenskyy is due to meet Trump at 1 p.m. local time (7 a.m. ET) while Putin’s meeting with Witkoff and Kushner will take place around 7-8 p.m. Moscow time (11-12 a.m ET), the Kremlin said.

Europe remains largely frozen out of U.S.-Russia-Ukraine discussions to end the conflict despite attempts to advocate for Kyiv in order to prevent unfovorable peace terms being foisted on its neighbor.

While Trump and his colleagues appear to believe Putin is ready and willing to agree to a ceasefire, Ukraine and other regional leaders are skeptical, saying Russia’s manpower advantage on the battlefield and incremental advances means it is willing to continue the war and is playing for time by drawing out talks.

European leaders fear a bad peace will only boost Russia’s resolve to return to Ukraine at a later point, with the concerns most acute in Europe’s “front line” states such as Poland and Finland, which share borders with Russia.

“I would say that regardless of whether a peace deal is signed or not – despite the best efforts of President Trump – Russia will remain a threat to Europe,” Polish President Karol Nawrocki told CNBC Wednesday.

“If peace is signed, Russia will try to regroup its forces and attack Europe in years to come. If a peace deal isn’t reached, the war in Ukraine will continue,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick.

“The Russian Federation has a particular mindset, both on a political and social level, to attack and subjugate countries to the west of its borders. This is what we need to prepare for, meaning our infrastructure, boosting weapons spending and defense capabilities as well as building solidarity,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly lambasted NATO members for not spending enough on defense and did so once again during his speech at WEF, saying the U.S. had been treated unfairly by its NATO partners:

“We never got anything, we actually took care of the needs of NATO for years and years …. [so] I think it’s time that NATO step up.”

“We’re helping them with Ukraine. Without us, I think Putin would have gone all the way,” Trump said.

President of Finland Alexander Stubb told CNBC his country, which joined NATO in 2023, was used to Russian aggression and unpredictability, and that it was doing its part to protect NATO member states, including the U.S.

“Finland does not project weakness at the Russian border, quite the contrary. Why? Because we always had to do it alone. Now we’re part of the [NATO] alliance, and we’re actually defending the United States as well from potential Russian aggression,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick.

“I do want to stress to all of my American friends is, listen, we got this. The Finnish border with Russia is 1340 kilometers. We’ve been practicing this since 1917 when we gained independence, and we do quite well at it,” he said.