US proposes trilateral talks with Russia, Ukraine by end of October, Zelensky says
on Google
The United States is pushing for Ukraine and Russia to hold negotiations at the technical level before the end of the month, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 4.
The president's remarks come amid a renewed diplomatic push from Washington to restart peace talks, following a visit by U.S. envoys to Kyiv and Moscow in early September.
"The American side is currently in contact with Ukraine and Russia and is proposing to hold some kind of meeting at the technical level in a trilateral format by the end of October," Zelensky told reporters at a press conference alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Zelensky said he spoke directly with the U.S. negotiating team on Oct. 3, but could not disclose all the details of the ongoing preparations. The president confirmed that Ukraine is ready and willing to participate in trilateral talks.
"We're open to the UAE or any other country proposed by the U.S. side," Zelensky said. "I know they'll propose this to the Russian side as well — or may have already done so, I'm not sure of the sequence of events. And we'll wait for a response."
Following the latest visits by Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump began pushing Russia and Ukraine to halt attacks on each other's energy facilities. Ukraine has said it will agree to an energy ceasefire only if Russia also suspends attacks.
Moscow has shown no signals of pausing its assault on Ukraine's power grid, and sources familiar with the matter have told the Kyiv Independent that Trump privately doubts Russian President Vladimir Putin will agree to an energy truce before winter.
The energy initiative, along with a possible reopening of the Black Sea grain corridor, is expected to be on the agenda at the coming trilateral meeting, which could take place in the United Arab Emirates.
Amid the peace push, Russia has continued escalating strikes against Ukraine, launching relentless days-long attacks on Kyiv and other cities. Zelensky said on Oct. 3 that Putin had issued a "new doctrine" allowing Russia to deliberately target Ukrainian civilians in the coming months.
"We saw documents and we know that they allow them (to) attack infrastructure ... logistics ... roads, schools, hospitals, to pressure people to leave the capital, leave different cities," Zelensky said.
