Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his team will move on to discuss the “most difficult issues” with Donald Trump’s envoys after negotiators secured a breakthrough on security guarantees for Kyiv.

Talks will move to the so-far intractable issues of territory and control over a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest — as U.S., Ukrainian and European officials seek to remove the remaining stumbling blocks before presenting a deal to Moscow.

“Ukraine does not shy away from the most difficult issues and will never be an obstacle to peace,” Zelenskyy said Wednesday in a post on platform X. “Peace must be dignified.”

A day after European leaders hailed the U.S. backing for security guarantees long sought by Kyiv, U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators will meet again in Paris. The Ukrainian leader identified the thorniest issues as territory in eastern Ukraine and the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russian forces seized in the first days of the four-year war.

Zelenskyy also instructed his team to discuss possible formats for leader-level meetings between Ukraine, other European states, and the U.S.

Trump’s representatives, special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, achieved what French President Emmanuel Macron called “operational convergence” over guarantees to prevent a further Russian attack after talks with U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Paris.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far given no sign of backing off his war aims as his forces pressed forward with attacks along the front line and continued drone strikes targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

During a visit Wednesday to Cyprus, which took over the European Union’s six-month rotating presidency this month, Zelenskyy delegated the next round of negotiations with the U.S. to a team that now includes Zelenskyy’s former military spy chief, Kyrylo Budanov.

“We are continuing important negotiations in Paris in order to achieve a lasting peace and reliable security guarantees for our state,” Budanov said on Telegram on Wednesday. “Ukrainian national interests will be protected.”

Budanov was tapped this month to succeed Zelenskyy’s powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who resigned last year as part of widening corruption scandal.

Speaking late Tuesday in Paris, Witkoff said officials made significant progress and “largely finished the security protocols.” He said U.S.-backed protocols would “deter” and “defend” Ukraine from attacks.

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