Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that U.S. peace negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner presented several “decent, worthwhile ideas” during talks aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, although the meetings failed to produce a breakthrough.
Witkoff and Kushner visited Russia and Ukraine over the weekend, holding several hours of discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy as Washington seeks to revive stalled diplomatic efforts.
Zelenskiy said Kyiv had agreed with the U.S. envoys to first work on the ideas before disclosing further details.
“As for the peace package that Kushner spoke of, and the new ideas, I can tell you that there were really some very decent, worthwhile ideas,” Zelenskiy told reporters in a WhatsApp media chat.
Ukraine and Russia remain divided over key issues, particularly the future of Ukrainian held territory in the eastern Donbas region, which Moscow claims as its own but has not fully captured despite years of fighting.
Zelenskiy said he plans to meet U.S. President Donald Trump later in September and hopes to discuss a winter air defence support package for Ukraine.
He also said Ukrainian, U.S. and European representatives would meet soon to prepare for a possible trilateral meeting. Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland are among the countries that could host the talks.
According to Zelenskiy, the discussions could cover grain shipments, energy infrastructure and other issues. He said Ukraine remained prepared to compromise but stressed that negotiations must produce tangible results.
Zelenskiy also called for faster and larger exchanges of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine.
“We need not just to discuss, but to achieve concrete results,” he said.
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