The dispute over occupied territories in Ukraine continues to be a sticking point amid negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow as President Donald Trump seeks to help bring an end to the war between the neighboring countries.

Axar.az informs Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Fox News' Bret Baier that a peace deal with Moscow could be close following his Sunday meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

"Even with one question today, we've been very close," Zelensky told Baier on "Special Repоrt." "I think we have a problem with one question: It's about territories."

Zelensky has suggested that Ukraine might be open to withdrawing from the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which Russia wants to annex, only if Ukrainian voters give their approval in a referendum.

"I think the compromise, if we do a free economic zone that we have, and we have to move some kilometers back. It means that Russia has to make minor steps some kilometers back," Zelensky said. "This free economic zone will have specific rules. Something like this referendum is the way how to accept it or not accept it."

Putin doesn't want peace, Zelensky said, despite the mounting death toll for Russian forces. "I don't trust Putin. He doesn't want success for Ukraine," Zelensky said. "I believe he can say such words to President Trump… but it's not true really."