Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he expects the war with Russia to continue into the winter, following a round of talks with Donald Trump’s top envoys in Kyiv.
The 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 previous day, the pair had 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.
Following Sunday’s talks, 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.
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”, adding the US team “made a lot of progress in Moscow”.
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.
Zelensky greeted Witkoff and Jared Kushner at Kyiv’s St Sophia Cathedral, near where a Russian drone hit the headquarters of Ukraine’s security services on Friday.
Overnight, Russian and Ukrainian forces continued to exchange strikes, with Ukraine confirming they struck an oil refinery, an airfield, and two air defence systems.
The country’s defence ministry said they targeted the Ryazan oil refinery, which supplies the Russian army, and an airfield in Rostov-on-Don.
Earlier, Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia attacked Ukraine with 108 long-range drones and small cruise missiles.
The country’s air defences downed 82 drones and six missiles, but 11 locations were hit, with debris falling at a further seven sites.
AFP via Getty ImagesSaturday’s talks in Moscow lasted three hours and were held behind closed doors in Putin’s official residence in the heart of the Russian capital, according to Russian state media.
Both sides have given broadly positive remarks without going into specifics.
Putin’s adviser Yuri Ushakov described the talks as “constructive, extremely frank”.
“The talks were not limited to an exchange of views on resolving the Ukrainian crisis – economic issues and potential major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in considerable detail,” he said.
Ushakov also said “note was made of the Russian army’s tangible advances in the combat zone” and that there was acknowledgement that talks needed to address “the root causes of the conflict”.
Despite an escalation of Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Russian ground forces have made very slow advances for most of the conflict, incurring enormous casualties. Russia still controls about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory – areas that it seized back in 2022.
The talks come after Russia and Ukraine have intensified aerial attacks in recent months.
Ukraine says it has struggled to repel ballistic missile attacks due to a lack of interceptor missiles, while Kyiv has focused its strikes on Russian economic infrastructure targets, notably oil installations.
