Zelenskyy tells US delegation Russia-Ukraine war could drag till winter, expresses hope for agreement

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday (local time) held a meeting with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Kyiv and expressed hope that an agreement with the US is likely, but expected the Russia-Ukraine war to drag on till winter.

Following his meeting with Witkoff and Kushner, Zelenskyy, in a series of posts on X, wrote, “We hope that we will be able to reach arrangements with our American partners in this domain, and we hope for the support of European partners. If the war continues into the winter, we are counting heavily on the winter package, which I discussed in detail today with Steve, Jared, and our European partners. 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.”

Zelenskyy lauds US envoys' efforts

Zelenskyy lauded the efforts made by the US envoys, who first met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 5 September to renew negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv as the war drags into its fifth year. Praising Witkoff and Kushner, Zelenskyy wrote, "I want to recognize the role of Steve and Jared in restarting the negotiation process today. It is important that the American team met with the head of Russia, and today with me, and that we discussed all the possibilities. We had a trilateral meeting with the participation of the Europeans, as well as a meeting of national security advisors, and I think we will do everything possible to restore these negotiations."

Separately, Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine is holding more talks with British, German and French representatives. Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy had said: "We are expecting one session of our talks, and then another session will be held with the European NSAs (national security advisors)."

US envoys call for compromise

It was the first visit to Kyiv for Witkoff and Kushner, who described the talks positively but did not announce any breakthrough towards ending the war with Russia.

Steve Witkoff said that compromise would need to come from both sides, and added, "We think we have the ingredients to get to that place," Euronews reported.

Highlighting the positive talks with both sides over the weekend, Witkoff further said, "We've had a very meaningful discussion, substantive, important, and we are very encouraged, and we look forward to continuing this as long as it takes." Kushner, who accompanied Witkoff, noted, "Hopefully this trip has come out with some new ways to advance forward. I think we've learned a lot from the trip."

Witkoff, Kushner meet Putin

On 5 September, the US envoys met with Putin at the Kremlin and called on the two sides to resume negotiations that were suspended six months ago. During the three-hour meeting, Putin told Witkoff and Kushner that he had "full trust" in Washington's mediation efforts between Moscow and Kyiv.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy aide, told Russian reporters that Witkoff and Kushner "made serious preparations for this trip. They not only expressed their traditional interest in a speedy end to the fighting but also formulated a number of ideas regarding possible resolution paths."

After the talks concluded, Putin's foreign policy aide noted that the discussions were "substantive, constructive, exceptionally candid, and conducted in a spirit of trust." He added, "The Russian side provided clear and comprehensive assessments of the situation developing during the special military operation."

However, it remains to be seen whether Moscow will agree to resume negotiations.