Zelensky reports 'long and substantive call' with Witkoff, Kushner
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 6 that he together with Ukraine negotiatiors held a "long and substantive" phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, are expected to brief Zelensky in person upon their return.
"Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace. We agreed on the next steps and formats for talks with the United States," Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
He added that they "focused on many aspects and quickly discussed the key issues that could guarantee an end to the bloodshed and remove the threat of a third Russian invasion, as well as the threat of Russia reneging on its promises, as it has done many times in the past."
The call followed several days of negotiations in Miami between Witkoff, Kushner, and Ukraine’s senior negotiator Umerov, talks that both Kyiv and Washington described as “constructive discussions on advancing a credible pathway toward a durable and just peace in Ukraine.”
The renewed diplomacy comes as the United States circulates a revised 28-point framework for ending the war — a plan that has sparked concern in Kyiv over provisions seen as tilting toward Moscow’s long-standing demands.
Witkoff had also traveled to Moscow earlier in the week for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Zelensky said he expects Umerov to brief him in person once he returns to Kyiv.
“Not everything can be discussed over the phone, so we need to work closely with our teams on ideas and proposals,” Zelensky said. “Our approach is that everything must be workable – every crucial measure for peace, security, and reconstruction.”
