The United States is pushing to revive direct trilateral negotiations between the US, Ukraine and Russia after US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held substantive talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
The discussions came a day after Witkoff and Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and held discussions to end the war.
Kushner said the US believes a return to the trilateral format could help move negotiations forward.
“One thing Steve (Witkoff) and I really thought would be productive is to go back to the trilateral format, which we were able to do about six months ago.”
He said the format would allow the three sides to communicate directly rather than relying on Washington to speak separately for Moscow and Kyiv.
“Hopefully we’ll have progress on that very soon.”
Zelensky welcomed the proposal but said Ukraine was prepared to consider broader talks involving its European partners.
“We must do everything possible to ensure that trilateral meetings take place – or trilateral meetings plus our European partners. We’ll see what Russia agrees to.”
Mentioning that “three rounds of very substantive talks” have taken place, Zelensky said the discussions in Kyiv took place across three rounds, with the final session involving European representatives.
“Today, we had three rounds of negotiations. All of them were very substantive.”
Thanking Witkoff and Kushner for travelling to Kyiv and also expressing gratitude to US President Donald Trump for his support, Zelensky said, “We had good discussions.”
Zelensky also highlighted the challenges Ukraine could face during the coming winter, particularly the country’s air-defense and energy needs.
“If the war continues into the winter, we are counting heavily on the winter package.”
He said Ukraine is seeking air-defence support, assistance for the energy sector and substantial supplies of US liquefied natural gas (LNG).
“We are counting on support for air defense and the energy sector, as well as substantial volumes of American LNG and the ability to use them.”
Zelensky said the discussions went beyond military security and included Ukraine’s long-term economic recovery and reconstruction.
“We are talking not only about security guarantees, but also about economic guarantees for Ukraine – to recover and rebuild.”
He stressed that Ukraine’s armed forces must remain strong after the war.
“Our army must be strong, and for us this is a key security guarantee.”
Zelensky argued that any guarantees must be credible enough to prevent future Russian aggression.
“The guarantees must be strong and clear. We must not fear any future challenges.”
The Ukrainian leader said the three sides also discussed Ukraine’s future and its economic prosperity plan, while European officials joined the negotiations.
“Ukraine, Europe, and the United States will meet in the near future.”
Despite the renewed diplomatic push, one of the most difficult issues, territory, remains on the table.
Zelensky said the territorial question cannot easily be settled at the working level and would ultimately require decisions by the countries’ leaders.
“The territorial issue remains a relevant one. I think such complex issues can only be resolved at the level of leaders.”
Previous rounds of negotiations have struggled over territory and security guarantees, leaving the central political questions unresolved.
Meanwhile, Kyiv is also looking to Washington for increased economic pressure on Russia.
The Ukrainian side said it is counting on efforts by Senator Lindsey Graham, described by Kyiv as a strong supporter of Ukraine, to secure US backing for a new sanctions package.
“The Ukrainian side is counting on the efforts of Lindsey Graham, a great friend of Ukraine, to be positively recognized by the United States.”
Kyiv said it is “counting on these sanctions” and expects a vote in the US Senate.
The issue was not raised by the American delegation during Sunday’s talks, according to the Ukrainian side, but officials said the Senate has been active and positive in its assessment of the sanctions package.
Ukrainian officials also pointed to comments by Senator Richard Blumenthal, who said the package has a strong chance of passing.We are counting on a vote.”
US special envoy Witkoff described his recent meeting with Putin as a “productive discussion and said maintaining communication with both Moscow and Kyiv is essential to reaching a peace agreement.” “We had a good, concrete conversation with Putin.”
He added:”If you don’t have relationships with both sides, and you have poor communication, then you probably have very, very little chance of getting to a peaceful resolution.” Following the Kyiv talks, Witkoff said he remained optimistic.”I’m confident that there’ll be a good resolution here.”
The Kyiv meeting followed a three-hour session between Witkoff, Kushner and Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday, followed by dinner with the Russian president.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described the discussions as “useful” and said the American delegation had “prepared seriously for this trip.”According to Ushakov, the US representatives expressed interest in ending the fighting as quickly as possible and presented:”A whole series of considerations regarding possible paths to a settlement.”
A White House official said Washington and Moscow had also discussed concrete plans for the next phase of diplomacy.”Both sides discussed substantive plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks.”
The latest diplomatic push therefore appears focused on re-establishing direct US-Russia-Ukraine negotiations, while Ukraine simultaneously seeks firm security guarantees, military support, energy assistance and continued Western pressure on Moscow.
For Kyiv, however, the central question remains whether diplomacy can produce an agreement that ends the war without leaving Ukraine vulnerable to another Russian attack.
