Russia has been attempting ― and failing ― to take the whole country since February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out ceding territory as part of the talks. “There is nothing to talk about,” Zelenskyy said Tuesday. “It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people.”

The president said he has a "deadline" in mind for talks to make progress, though he did not say what it was. Trump administration officials say they had initially hoped to have secured a negotiated settlement before the 100th day of the president's second term next Tuesday, but that that goal now seems like a pipedream.