Negotiations to end Russia’s war against our country are important in any format in which such diplomatic steps are possible. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this at a press conference following a meeting in Kyiv with the U.S. President’s envoys, Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
“We may prefer certain formats of negotiations, but nevertheless, it is worse when there are no formats of negotiations at all. I want to recognize the role of Steve and Jared in restarting the negotiation process today. Thank you for coming. And we are grateful to the U.S. President that you are here with us in Kyiv today,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
Today, following the American team’s talks with the head of Russia, all possibilities for restarting negotiations were discussed in Kyiv.
According to the President, the territorial issue remains a relevant one. The Head of State emphasized that such complex issues can only be resolved at the level of leaders.
“But the main thing is that today we have the opportunity to discuss everything – security guarantees, and we are indeed talking about Ukraine’s future. And we all want – we stand in solidarity here – to end the war as soon as possible. We are talking about the prosperity plan. We are talking not only about security guarantees, but also about economic guarantees for Ukraine – to recover and rebuild. We all understand the challenges that lie ahead once the war ends. We are discussing them among ourselves; we understand them. Our army must be strong, and for us this is a key security guarantee. And all of this requires resources,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
During the meetings, considerable attention was paid to preparations for winter and all the challenges that could arise. Ukraine is counting on support from its partners this winter, primarily to strengthen our air defense and energy sector. In particular, the President noted that Ukraine hopes to secure substantial volumes of U.S. LNG and have the opportunity to use it.
The President also noted the importance of being joined in the talks in Kyiv by Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic advisor to the President of France; Jonathan Powell, national security advisor to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; and Günter Sautter, foreign and security policy advisor to the Federal Chancellor of Germany. A separate round of talks was held with them.
“And we agreed that Ukraine, Europe, and the United States will meet in the near future. I don’t know where the meeting will take place – in Europe, in the United States, or perhaps here again, Steve – as I understand it, he liked our train – so perhaps in Ukraine again. But we are open in any case,” the Head of State said.
Steven Witkoff noted that restarting negotiations to end the war is very important to U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I want to thank you, President Zelenskyy, for your hospitality. And we look forward to spending more time here. You are amazing people. We’ve met quite a bit of people in Kyiv today, and their resiliency is so pronounced and it’s special. You’ve been brave and we commend you,” the U.S. President’s envoy said.
Jared Kushner thanked Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his hospitality and the Ukrainian people for such a warm welcome.
“President Trump sends his warm regards to you and his respect. And obviously, he’s been following this very closely and working to try and find a pathway to end this war. What President Trump’s been very focused on is – how do we create a framework that could actually lead to a durable peace?” the U.S. President’s envoy said.
He said the American side sees its task as creating a peace package.
“We are working to construct this. And we are working with our European partners. This has been a long, emotional war, and we are all trying to resolve this together. This is a framework. We have to create a framework that will help resolve this issue,” Jared Kushner said.
The U.S. President’s envoy also spoke about efforts to arrange talks in a trilateral format.
“Steve and I tried to discuss a trilateral meeting. We were not trying to convince the Russians of anything or convince the Ukrainians of anything. We simply discussed these issues in a very friendly atmosphere, and I think it was productive,” he said.
The President of Ukraine held several rounds of meetings with Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The visit began at St. Sophia Cathedral, founded in 1011, where the U.S. President’s envoys were given a tour and learned about this landmark of the Kyivan Rus era. The talks then took place in a bilateral format, followed later by a joint meeting of the Ukrainian and American delegations with the national security advisors to the President of France, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Federal Chancellor of Germany.