Zelensky holds call with Trump team amid frozen Ukraine-Russia peace talks

President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 22 spoke with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoys leading efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The officials held "a good and important conversation about how to intensify diplomacy and bring peace closer," Zelensky wrote on social media after the talks.

The latest discussion comes amid a six-month freeze in peace negotiations among Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington, who have not held trilateral talks since meeting in Abu Dhabi in February. The U.S. largely dropped diplomatic efforts in Ukraine and Russia after launching its invasion of Iran, while the Kremlin dug into its maximalist demands.

Zelensky's summary of his recent conversation with Witkoff and Kushner was short on details, but he said the teams planned to "remain in close contact...to continue owrking on everything we discussed."

"Peace is needed — a dignified peace — and Ukraine has been ready for it for a long time," he said.

Earlier that day, Zelensky met in person with U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker to discuss deliveries of Patriot missiles and the pending U.S.-Ukraine Drone Deal. Whitaker traveled to Kyiv alongside U.S. General Curtis Buzzard, head of NATO's Ukraine mission.

While Witkoff and Kushner did not personally visit Kyiv, Zelensky's talks with members of the Trump team signal a thaw in the U.S. government's attitude towards Ukraine.

Following months of uncertainty and stalled diplomacy, Trump said for the first time that Washington would grant Ukraine licenses to produce their own Patriot interceptors. The announcement, delivered alongside Zelensky at the NATO summit in Turkey in July, marked a crucial win for Ukraine as it faces a shortage of effective defensive weapons against Russian ballistic missiles.

A senior Ukrainian official also told the Kyiv Independent in June that Trump had recently urged Zelensky to act "more boldly" in the war with Russia, in order to pressure Moscow into meaningful negotiations.

In recent months, Ukraine has seen significant success in its deep- and middle-strike campaigns against Russian logistics, oil infrastructure, shadow fleet vessels, and power stations. Ukraine's attacks have so far been effective in isolating occupied Crimea and aggravating a nationwide fuel crisis in Russia, changing way everyday Russians experience the reality of the war.

"I thank Steve and Jared for their personal efforts towards peace," Zelensky said. "We are grateful to President Trump and the American people for their unwavering support."