Ukraine Is Ready to Meet for Talks Any Day — Zelenskyy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about his conversation with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during an online address at the Hudson Institute, a U.S. think tank in Washington. According to the president, the main topic was the preparation for a trilateral meeting involving the negotiating teams from Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia. It is tentatively scheduled to take place in the first half of November.

The Ukrainian side insists that there is no point in delaying the negotiations. Zelenskyy stated that Kyiv is ready to meet any day, even the day after the conversation. At the same time, organizing the meeting requires the consent of all participants, including Russia. “We are ready to meet any day, even tomorrow, but it all depends on the Russians,” the president said.

For now, the discussion centers on a meeting at the level of the negotiating teams, rather than a personal meeting between the leaders of the three countries. Such talks are intended to help agree on an agenda and determine which issues need to be discussed further. At the same time, the mere fact that a meeting is being prepared does not mean that the parties have already agreed on the terms for ending the war.

Why the Previous Meeting Did Not Take Place

Zelenskyy also recalled that a similar trilateral meeting had been planned for September. However, the talks did not take place at that time. According to the Ukrainian president, the Russian side found a reason to cancel the meeting.

Now the Ukrainian side is once again trying to agree on the format of the negotiations with U.S. mediation. It is important for Kyiv that the diplomatic process not come to a halt and that the parties be able to discuss concrete steps to end the war. At the same time, the outcome depends not only on the willingness of Ukraine and its American partners, but also on whether Moscow agrees to participate in the meeting.

Previously, Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly stated their readiness to take diplomatic steps for the sake of peace. In early September, following a meeting with Witkoff and Kushner in Kyiv, Zelenskyy emphasized that the negotiation process is important in any format that allows progress toward ending the war. U.S. representatives also reported that they were working on organizing trilateral talks.

What Is Known About Possible Next Steps

If the parties agree on a date, the next step should be a meeting of the negotiating teams from Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia. At that meeting, they could identify issues requiring further discussion and lay the groundwork for potential high-level negotiations. However, there is currently no basis for asserting that a final date has already been agreed upon or that the upcoming meeting will necessarily lead to the signing of a peace agreement.

It was also previously reported that U.S. President Donald Trump was considering the possibility of signing a peace agreement during the Group of Twenty (G20) summit. At the same time, these reports do not confirm that the parties have reached such an agreement or established a specific plan for its signing. Thus, the main task now is to agree on the meeting itself and ensure the participation of all three parties. Ukraine has stated its readiness to begin negotiations as soon as possible, but further developments will depend on the positions of the participants and the results of diplomatic contacts. This was reported by Novosti.LIVE.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, stated that during a meeting with U.S. representative Steve Witkoff, the Russian leader did not hand over any documents containing proposals for resolving the war in Ukraine.

Talks between Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and U.S. President’s Special Representative Steve Witkoff took place in St. Petersburg and lasted nearly three hours. During the meeting, the U.S. envoy briefed the Russian side on the results of previous consultations held in Oslo.