German Chancellor Friedrich Merz watches as US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky greet each other prior to a meeting in a conference room in the Chancellery in Berlin, on December 14, 2025. GUIDO BERGMANN / AFP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, December 14 met with US President Donald Trump's envoys for talks on how to end the war with Russia, kicking off two days of crisis diplomacy in Berlin.
Trump has pushed for an end to the almost four-year-old conflict but key questions remain on territorial concessions, future security guarantees for Kyiv, and whether Russia would agree to any proposal hammered out by the Europeans and Americans.
German leader Friedrich Merz was shown offering a "warm welcome" to Zelensky as well as Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the US president's son-in-law Jared Kushner in a short video released by the chancellery.
"We began our meeting," Zelensky said on Facebook, posting pictures of the Ukrainian delegation joined by Merz, the US representatives and NATO's top commander in Europe, US General Alexus Grynkewich.
