US and Ukrainian negotiators will revisit the thorny issues of territory and the fate of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says, the most problematic points in peace talks to end Russia's war.
Kyiv is under US pressure to secure peace in the nearly four-year-old conflict, but is pushing back on Russian demands to cede its eastern Donetsk region and give up control of Europe's largest nuclear facility.
The delegations are in Paris for a third day of talks among Kyiv's allies on peace and security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire with Russia, which has been cool on the US-backed process.
"We expect, in particular, that the most difficult issues from the basic framework for ending the war will be discussed – namely, issues related to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and territories," Zelenskiy wrote on X on Wednesday, announcing a third session with the US team in two days.
He added that he had ordered his team to discuss new leader-level talks involving the US and European allies.
Earlier on Wednesday, Zelenskiy's top adviser hailed "concrete results" in the Paris talks and vowed Kyiv's national interests would be protected.
Zelenskiy said on Tuesday after the "coalition of the willing" talks that US and Ukrainian officials had discussed "some ideas" to address the issue of territory.
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff said "land options" had been discussed on Tuesday and that he hoped for a compromise to be reached.
Kyiv has refused to pull out of the industrialised Donetsk region, which Russia has taken swathes of but has failed to seize entirely.
Zelenskiy has also said the US has floated the idea of a free economic zone there if Ukraine withdraws from the parts of the region that it still controls.
Any compromises on land should be put to a referendum for Ukrainians, Zelenskiy has previously said.
According to an opinion poll last month, around three-quarters of Ukrainians are prepared for a deal that would freeze the current front line, but oppose ceding territory.
The US has also proposed a trilateral operation of the Zaporizhzhia plant, which Moscow captured in 2022 and connected to its own power grid, with an American chief manager, Zelenskiy said last month.
Kyiv has instead proposed joint Ukrainian-American use of the plant, according to Zelenskiy, with the US itself determining how to use 50 per cent of the energy produced.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that any deployment of UK forces under a declaration signed with France and Ukraine would be subject to a parliamentary vote.
Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed on Tuesday a declaration of intent outlining the deployment of forces in the event a peace deal is reached.
"I will keep the house updated as the situation develops, and were troops to be deployed under the declaration signed, I would put that matter to the house for a vote," Starmer told parliament.
He said the number of troops would be determined under UK military plans, which are currently being drawn up.