Zelenskyy Calls For Trilateral Negotiations With Russia After ‘Substantial’ Talks With US Envoys
Key Takeaways:
- U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Putin in Moscow on September 5, then Zelenskyy in Kyiv on September 6. Both sides called the talks “substantial.” Zelenskyy wants trilateral U.S.–Ukraine–Russia talks resumed; Kushner backed that idea. Witkoff said Washington wants a diplomatic end, not a kinetic one, and that both sides must compromise.
- Kyiv’s immediate ask is winter survival: air-defense missiles, energy help, and U.S. LNG, with Britain, France, and Germany also in the room. Zelenskyy reported no breakthrough and said Donetsk remains “the question of this war.” The Kremlin’s Ushakov called talks frank but repeated Russia’s “root causes” line—no NATO path and limits on Ukraine’s military—which Kyiv rejects. Trump said the envoys carried “an idea for peace.”
- Fighting did not pause. Ukraine said Russia launched 108 drones overnight (88 downed); earlier strikes killed seven, including an 11-year-old in Kharkiv. Kyiv claimed hits on the Ryazan refinery and a Rostov airfield; Russian governors reported fires and drones, not those exact targets. The envoys left Kyiv by special train toward Poland.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for resumption of trilateral negotiations between the United States and Russia as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner concluded talks in Kyiv and Moscow, including with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as part of efforts to end the conflict, now in its fifth year.
Both Zelenskyy and Witkoff described the September 6 talks as “substantial,” with the Ukrainian president telling reporters that, among other things, the sides discussed security and economic guarantees for Kyiv, supplies of urgently needed air-defense missiles, as well as a support package for Ukraine, as another wartime winter looms.
At the same time, Witkoff stressed that the United States was seeking a diplomatic resolution to the conflict rather than a kinetic one, while Kushner supported the idea of renewing trilateral negotiations between Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington.
“It’s going to take both sides to make some compromises and narrow the issues between them and we think we have the ingredients to get to that place,” Witkoff said. “It is very difficult but we are committed.”
Separately, as the Kyiv talks were unfolding, Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram page that representatives of Britain, France, and Germany had also joined the discussions.
Zelenskyy offered some guarded remarks following the talks, suggesting no immediate breakthrough.
“We had three rounds of talks today. All of them were very substantive,” he wrote on social media as Ukrainian officials told reporters that Zelenskyy, Witkoff, and Kushner met again following the formal sessions.
“We hope we will have the opportunity to reach an agreement with our American partners, and we hope for the support of our European partners.”
“If the war continues in the winter, we are very much counting on the winter [aid] package, which I discussed in detail with Steve, Jared, and our European partners today.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine is “counting on support for both air defense and energy, and for a serious volume and possibilities of using American [liquid natural gas].”
A year ago, Ukraine suffered through a brutal winter as Russia targeted the country’s energy infrastructure, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without heating.
The Ukrainian railway said in the early hours of September 7 that the American envoys departed Kyiv by “special train,” likely headed to Poland for a flight back to the United States.
The US envoys had arrived in Kyiv by train from Poland early on September 6 hours after they held a three-hour meeting with Putin in Moscow late the night before. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Putin as saying the three men would have to address a “difficult situation” during their Kremlin discussions.
A White House official told RFE/RL that “the two sides discussed substantive plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks” and that the envoys “look forward to equally productive meetings” in Ukraine.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, who participated in the session, called the talks “substantive, very frank, and constructive.” He added that the envoys stated the US position and promised to present Putin’s views to Ukrainian leaders during their talks in Kyiv.
“They not only expressed their traditional interest in bringing the hostilities to a quick end, they put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement,” he said.
Ushakov insisted Russia would achieve its goals and that the “root causes” of the conflict must be resolved, Kremlin code for putting an end to Ukraine’s hopes of NATO membership and steps to effectively disarm the Ukrainian military, among other historical grievances — items Kyiv has long rejected.
Even as the diplomatic push continued, Russian forces launched another large-scale drone attack on Ukraine overnight into September 6.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 108 drones, including Shahed attack drones and jet-powered variants. It said air defenses had shot down or suppressed 88 drones by 9:30 a.m., while strikes were recorded at 11 locations and falling debris at seven.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said its forces had struck a number of targets inside Russia overnight, including the Ryazan oil refinery and a military airfield in the Rostov region.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on September 6 that a fire was recorded at the Ryazan refinery, one of Russia’s largest, and that the facility was involved in supplying the Russian military. It also said Ukrainian forces struck a radar station and two Pantsir-S1 air-defense systems in the Rostov region.
RFE/RL could not independently verify the claims.
Russian officials acknowledged drone attacks and fires but did not confirm that the facilities identified by Ukraine had been hit. Ryazan regional Governor Pavel Malkov reported a fire at “one of the enterprises,” while Rostov Governor Yury Slyusar said around 30 drones had been destroyed and three people were injured.
The latest attack on Ukraine followed a day of Russian strikes across the country that killed seven people and left 57 others injured or otherwise affected in five regions, according to regional military administrations. Four of those killed were in the Kharkiv region, including an 11-year-old boy.
As the United States pressed ahead with its latest effort to end the war, President Donald Trump had said his envoys would be presenting a peace deal to the Russians and then would relay the offer to Ukraine the next day.
Trump said Washington had “an idea for peace” and that his envoys were “bringing with them a proposal to end the war,” now in its fifth year since Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“I sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done, and there may be a good chance that we’ll do it,” Trump told reporters on September 4.
‘Diplomatic Activities’
The US envoys’ visit to Kyiv marks their first visit to Ukraine since taking leading roles in the administration’s efforts to end the war and comes amid a renewed diplomatic push aimed at reaching a peace agreement.
Trump made ending the largest war in Europe since 1945 a priority when he took office in January 2025, but an agreement has been elusive, and diplomacy had been largely stalled since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran in late February.
Putin has shown no sign of compromise in recent comments, among other things insisting that Russia must control all of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, including the parts its forces have failed to capture in years of heavy fighting.
At a joint news conference with US envoys in Kyiv following their talks on September 6, Zelenskyy called the issue of the Donetsk region “the question of this war,” suggesting it remains one of the central obstacles to a diplomatic resolution of the conflict.
