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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the US and Russia is set to take place in November in an attempt to restart stalled peace talks.
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“We are ready to talk. If it’s a territorial issue, it must be addressed at a leadership level. Other issues fall within the remit of the technical groups. All this can therefore be discussed in November,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Ukrainian television.
Talk of negotiations with all three sides at the table, aimed at stopping the drawn-out war has done the rounds repeatedly in recent weeks.
The latest announcements came amid intensified diplomatic efforts by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
His envoy Steve Witkoff met on Tuesday with Zelenskyy and European leaders in Oslo, before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
Following the meetings, both Kyiv and Moscow voiced their readiness to resume direct talks mediated by Washington.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” to restart the talks after 10 November, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters following a meeting in St. Petersburg between the Russian leader and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Following the meetings, both Kyiv and Moscow voiced their readiness to resume direct talks mediated by Washington.
The talks will focus on “building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends,” Ushakov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he supported the push from Washington to restart talks swiftly.
“The agenda is clear: to end the war, bring peace closer, and, as I understand it, prepare everything for a meeting at the leaders’ level,” Zelenskyy said in an audio message issued late Wednesday.
Representatives of the three countries held three rounds of negotiations early this year, meeting twice in Abu Dhabi in January and February, followed by further talks in Geneva in February.
However, little progress was reported beyond exchanges of prisoners of war as Moscow and Kyiv stuck to their longstanding basic demands.
Additional sources • AFP
