Zelensky photo credit: Beth Baisch
President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, traveled to Kyiv on Sunday to continue diplomatic talks with Ukraine in an effort to resume negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
Witkoff and Kushner had previously held talks in Russia with President Vladimir Putin, meeting with the Russian leader for more than three hours on Saturday. According to Axios, a Russian official said that “Kushner and Witkoff are making an effort, and we are making progress.” A White House official said that the pair discussed with Putin "plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks."
Putin advisor Yuri Ushakov described the talk as “Extremely frank,” saying, “The talks were not limited to an exchange of views on resolving the Ukrainian crisis - economic issues and potential major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in considerable detail.”
Witkoff and Kushner met with Zelensky twice. A third meeting included national security advisors from the UK, Germany, and France. Following their second meeting with Zelensky, Witkoff and Kushner said they were "encouraged by the substantive discussion.” Kushner also expressed hope that trilateral negotiations could continue.
"There's no such thing in the world as forever enemies or forever allies,” Kushner said.
Kushner told Zelensky that President Trump was "very determined to see an end of this war" and that US negotiations would continue for “as long as it takes.” Zelensky, for his part, said that Ukraine is “ready for talks” and “has always been and will continue to be constructive.”
The Russia-Ukraine war will reach a five-year mark next February should the fighting continue. Zelensky said in an address at the beginning of the month that Russia had recently changed its tactics for attacking Ukraine, with Russian forces carrying out increasingly large-scale strikes. He also warned that escalation would not remain limited to Ukrainian territory.
