Private jets parked at Duebendorf Air Base as global business leaders and politicians arrive for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 20 January 2026. Photo: EPA / Michael Buholzer
Envoys representing US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin met for over two hours at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday to discuss ongoing US-led efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who, together with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, met with Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev on the forum’s sidelines, described the talks as having been “very positive”, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Dmitriev, the first senior Kremlin official to attend the forum since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, told reporters that the meeting between the two sides had been “constructive” and claimed that “more and more people are understanding the correctness of Russia’s position”.
Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had been expected to travel to Davos to meet with Trump on the forum’s sidelines this week, he announced on Tuesday that he would remain in Kyiv to oversee relief efforts after repeated Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure left large swathes of the capital without heating, electricity and water.
Unprecedented tensions in the transatlantic alliance could well have been another factor in Zelensky’s decision to skip Davos amid European opposition to Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance on Greenland, as well as his proposed “Board of Peace” for Gaza, which officials fear he could use to sideline the UN for global conflict resolution.
In light of those tensions, the signing of an $800 billion “prosperity plan” with the US and Europe to finance Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction that was originally planned to take place in Davos has been postponed, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
