Zelenskyy Declines Davos Trip as Trump Presses Ukraine Peace Deal

A Ukrainian official says President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will remain in Kyiv and not travel to Davos for a meeting with President Donald Trump, despite Trump telling World Economic Forum attendees he would see Zelenskyy 'later today' and then on Thursday. In his Davos speech and a follow‑up Q&A on Jan. 21, Trump said Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin would be 'stupid' if they do not soon reach a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, while insisting 'we’re reasonably close to a deal' and announcing that envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner will meet Putin in Moscow on Thursday. Ukrainian officials had hoped the Davos encounter would produce signatures on two documents — one enshrining security arrangements for Ukraine in a peace framework, the other creating an $800 billion 'prosperity plan' for postwar reconstruction — but European governments balked at publicly rolling out the reconstruction package amid anger over Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland and his Gaza 'Board of Peace' scheme. Trump complained that at times Zelenskyy has refused U.S.–Russia deal terms and at other times Putin has walked away, calling it 'a very difficult balance' as he tries to sell himself as a dealmaker even while his rhetoric and unrelated territorial ambitions are undercutting allied support. For U.S. readers, the episode highlights both the high‑stakes diplomacy around Ukraine’s future and how Trump’s confrontational posture toward Europe is entangling efforts to lock in security guarantees and massive Western reconstruction funding.