Ukraine's prime minister, top Zelensky aide heading to US next week
A delegation led by Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko will travel to the U.S. early next week to discuss support for Ukraine during the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Oct. 9.
Ukrainian delegates, including Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and sanctions commissioner, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, will address air defenses, energy, peace talks, sanctions against Moscow, and frozen Russian assets.
The news follows U.S. President Donald Trump greenlighting fresh military support for Ukraine under a NATO-led framework and publicly floating the supply of Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles.
After being reluctant for a long time to provide new defense aid to Kyiv, Trump shifted his position as his push for a peace deal stalled and Russia repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire.
"I believe President Trump wants us at the negotiating table, and we supported this track," Zelensky said on X.
Trump's shift in rhetoric came after he met Zelensky at the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September. The U.S. president said at the time that Kyiv "is in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back" as Russia faces mounting economic challenges.
"I believe our meeting, combined with the actual facts, has given him a broader understanding that the Russians are 'selling' him something they are not capable of delivering," Zelensky noted on Oct. 9.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov recently said that the "strong momentum" for ending the war has waned since Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15.
Similarly, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that the U.S.-Russia dialogue remains "subdued."
The Alaska summit, initially expected to include sessions on bilateral cooperation, ended abruptly after those segments were canceled. Two months later, no tangible progress has been made toward peace.
Lucy Pakhnyuk
