By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said he expects the war with Russia to continue into the winter, following talks with Donald Trump’s top envoys in Kyiv.
The initial discussions finished without an announcement of a major breakthrough, after Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Ukraine for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The duo had in the previous day held talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Witkoff said he was “encouraged” by what he called “substantive” and important talks in Kyiv.
Zelensky stressed that he wanted a just peace with no opportunity for renewed aggression by Russia. The delegations continued talks after speaking to the media.
Following the first round of talks on Sunday, which lasted several hours behind closed doors, Zelensky told reporters they had agreed officials from Ukraine, Europe and America would meet in the near future to continue discussions.
“We’re confident there’ll be a good resolution here,” Witkoff said, adding the negotiators had “made a lot of progress in Moscow”, referring to the pair’s discussions with the Russians on Saturday.
Zelensky emphasised that should the war continue into the winter – “which is what it looks like for now” – Ukraine would need air defence and energy support.
Ukraine has relied on American-made Patriot interceptors to combat Russian ballistic missiles, but the US has used many of its stockpiles during its war with Iran.
In past years, Russia has focused its attacks on energy infrastructure during winter months.
When asked about the talks in Moscow, Kushner said the US team “went through a lot of the ideas that hadn’t worked to date” and “tried to think about” what elements are needed for “durable peace”.
“It was a very good dialogue, he [Putin] asked a lot of questions, we asked a lot of questions.”
Witkoff said the envoys had met Putin first as they “needed to hear where he stood”.
The US envoys had travelled to Kyiv by train after flying to Poland. Zelensky told the media that it was not possible for them to land their plane despite preparations.
Putin and Zelensky agreed to halt strikes on each other’s capitals for three days while the negotiators carried out their trip.
