US seeks renewed trilateral talks after Witkoff, Kushner meet Zelenskyy in Kyiv
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held three rounds of talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, discussing a possible return to trilateral Ukraine-U.S.-Russia negotiations, air defense and security guarantees as Washington pushes for progress toward ending the war, a hromadske correspondent reported.
National security advisers from the E3 countries - Germany, France and the United Kingdom - joined the second round of talks after arriving in Kyiv alongside Witkoff and Kushner.
The U.S. envoys said President Donald Trump wanted not only to end the war but also to create conditions for lasting peace. Kushner said Trump had tasked them with developing a “peace package.”
Witkoff said the U.S. delegation had heard “new ideas” in Moscow, including proposals that had not worked previously, and brought them to Ukrainian officials in Kyiv.
The envoys said they wanted to return to a trilateral negotiating format involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia, with a new meeting potentially to be announced soon.
Zelenskyy said the talks covered a ceasefire, economic and security guarantees for Ukraine, and challenges the country would face after the war.
Axios previously reported, citing sources, that Witkoff and Kushner hoped to achieve a “breakthrough” in efforts to end the war before this winter. Zelenskyy, however, said that for now, it appeared the war would continue through the winter.
Air defense and the coming winter
Air defense was another major focus of the talks. Zelenskyy said Ukraine's shortage of systems capable of intercepting ballistic missiles remained a “weak point.”
He said further meetings were planned regarding Ukraine's FREYJA anti-ballistic missile project and that he expected deliveries of U.S.-made Patriot systems to increase next year as the United States expands production.
“Sometimes we can joke about Patriots, but this is a very important issue for us,” Zelenskyy said. “I am grateful that today we paid sufficient attention to the winter period and all the challenges that may arise.”
Zelenskyy also stressed the importance of holding trilateral talks and described the Donbas issue as central to the war because of its importance to Russia.
He said Russia was expected to conduct another mobilization after its elections specifically to reinforce forces fighting in that area.
Witkoff and Kushner's Moscow talks
The Kyiv meeting came after Witkoff and Kushner held more than three hours of talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Trump had said the two envoys were carrying a proposal aimed at ending the war. Bloomberg previously reported that Kremlin-linked figures had “extremely low” expectations for the meeting after earlier visits by the U.S. envoys failed to produce significant progress.
Ahead of their trip, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would refrain from air strikes to ensure the envoys could travel safely to Moscow.
Putin also ordered Russian forces not to strike Kyiv for three days beginning at midnight on Sept. 6, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov also confirmed that Ukraine had proposed a ceasefire to Russia.
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