"It all depends on the Russians": Zelenskyy announces Ukraine-US-Russia talks in first half of November

Ulyana Krychkovska-Bogdanova , Anastasia Prots - 23 October, 18:57

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: President's Office

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated, following a conversation with Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, that negotiations between teams from Ukraine, the US and Russia are planned for the first half of November, although it will depend on the Russians whether they are held.

Source: European Pravda, citing Zelenskyy's remarks at an online meeting at the Hudson Institute, as reported by Suspilne

Details: Zelenskyy said he had just had a telephone conversation with Kushner and Witkoff, during which they discussed the results of the meetings in Norway and how they could "move diplomacy forward".

Quote: "This November we have an agreement to hold a trilateral meeting – Ukraine, United States and Russia – at the team level, and we hope it will happen. The plan is to meet in the first half of November and as early as possible of course, but we are ready to meet any day – even tomorrow. But it all depends on the Russians."

Details: Zelenskyy added that Ukraine had also expected a trilateral meeting to be held in October.

Quote: "But it didn't happen, because the Russians came up with another reason not to meet. And now we all need to focus on making these meetings happen. Of course together, of course with America, of course with Europe and with all our other partners. We need these meetings, and we need diplomacy to move forward."

Details: Zelenskyy also believes that the meetings cannot take place without the US or without American pressure on Russia.

Quote: "We need trilateral talks between Ukraine, America and Russia, and Europe must also be part of this conversation. And we need to move from technical-level trilateral talks to involve the leaders, because the key issues can only be settled at that level."

Background:

On 21 October, Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg to discuss the settlement of the war in Ukraine. During the meeting, Witkoff called Putin a "humanitarian".
Zelenskyy has said that Russia supports a trilateral meeting at team level and the dates for the potential meeting are being finalised.

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