Moscow –
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said last week that just one issue remained to be resolved before a deal to end the war in Ukraine could be reached.
Witkoff, who held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday before heading to Abu Dhabi, did not name the issue. But Washington, Moscow and Kyiv have all made clear that the question is over territory.
The sticking point regards Putin’s claim to all of Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk. Ukrainian forces still hold about 20%, or 5,000 square kilometers of it, despite Russian advances on the battlefield.