Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held their first talks with Zelensky in Kyiv, but no breakthrough was announced — the president said he expects the war to continue.
US President Donald Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held their first talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on September 6 — a day after spending more than three hours with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. No breakthrough was announced. Volunteers Support Ukraine is closely following the course of these peace talks, on which the future of millions of Ukrainians depends.
The meeting and joint briefing took place near St. Sophia Cathedral in central Kyiv. Witkoff called the talks "very meaningful" and "important," later adding that the discussions were "substantive." According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian and American teams also discussed security guarantees and economic support for Kyiv. Both sides mentioned possible future trilateral meetings — one involving the US, Ukraine and European partners, another involving the US, Ukraine and Russia — though no dates or venues were announced.
The most striking line came directly from Zelensky: Ukraine, he said, isn't counting on a swift end to the fighting and is preparing for the war to continue into winter. That statement came right after Witkoff and Kushner's hours-long meeting with Putin in Moscow the day before, which likewise produced no breakthrough.
The next step is expected to be a round of phone calls: Trump plans to speak with Putin first, then with Zelensky, to compare notes from both rounds of talks. Volunteers Support Ukraine continues helping people affected by the war in whatever way its available resources allow — regardless of how long the diplomatic search for peace continues.
