WASHINGTON: A top US envoy on Monday touted progress in weekend discussions with Ukraine and Russia, raising the prospect of reviving three-way peace talks to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky met separately with top US envoys in a renewed push to end the fighting, which began when Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine more than four years ago. “Substantive progress was made, including movement on scheduling additional trilateral talks,” US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff wrote on X.
Witkoff, a business ally of US President Donald Trump, traveled to Russia and Ukraine over the weekend alongside negotiating partner Jared Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law. Sunday’s appearance in Kyiv was their first official trip to the Ukrainian capital.
A senior Ukrainian official said that the two envoys had brought new and “more effective” proposals on ending the war, but Zelensky warned that fighting appeared likely to continue into the winter. The Kremlin on Monday did not rule out three-way talks with the United States and Ukraine aimed at ending the conflict.
“But it is too early to say anything about the venue or the exact dates at this stage,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
