US envoys for peace talks on Ukraine Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner presented several good ideas during talks to end the war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Over the weekend, Witkoff and Kushner visited both Russia and Ukraine. The two held several hours of talks with Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, the meetings did not lead to a breakthrough on ending the war, which is now in its fifth year.
Zelensky told reporters in a WhatsApp media group that he planned to meet with US President Donald Trump later in September and intended to discuss with him a package of measures to support Ukrainian air defenses in the winter.
“As for the peace package that Kushner talked about and the new ideas - I can tell you that there were indeed some very acceptable and noteworthy ideas,“ Zelensky said. He did not give further details, saying that Kiev had agreed with the US envoys to work on them first.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Indian journalists that Russia was confident that its victory in the conflict with Ukraine was “very close“.
“Yes, we are confident and we are sure that victory is very close,“ Peskov said.
Ukraine and Russia continue to have disagreements over how to end the war. One of the main contentious issues is the fate of the remaining Ukrainian-controlled territories in the eastern Donbas region, which Moscow has claimed as its own but has failed to seize despite years of fierce fighting.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war have also been stalled for months. On the other hand, Zelensky said he was grateful to the US for its efforts to revive the diplomatic process. He added that representatives of Ukraine, the United States and Europe will meet in the near future to prepare a trilateral meeting.
The next such meeting could be organized in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland or another country. Zelensky expects it to discuss grain supplies and energy infrastructure, among other issues, adding that Ukraine is ready for compromise.
He also said that it is necessary to continue negotiations on the exchange of prisoners of war. “We need not just to discuss, but to achieve concrete results,” Zelensky added.