The White House’s envoys will be visiting the United States this Friday to meet with Ukrainian and European officials to discuss “new ideas” for bringing the war to an end between the United States and Russia. The main purpose of these talks at a high level is to create a comprehensive peace plan.
The diplomatic effort comes after a tragedy on the ground, when a Russian attack on buses in Kramatorsk killed 30 people recently. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the two-day talks are to take place, and he is hoping for a breakthrough.
The Ukrainian negotiating team will include high-level representatives such as Kyrylo Budanov, Sergiy Kyslytsya, David Arakhamia, as well as those of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, including Rustem Umerov. They will also hold talks with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who held discussions in Moscow and Kyiv last month for the basis of their talks.
The expanded diplomatic format will also feature national security advisors from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, as well as NATO and the European Union. Some of the most pressing questions to be discussed by negotiators are full security guarantees for Ukraine and a post-war development plan aimed at building strength.
The negotiations come amid growing dismay from European leaders over the surge in energy prices, which comes as a harbinger to what may be a tough winter. Washington is busy with its own current war with Iran, and has blamed these energy woes on Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian diesel refineries.
Past diplomatic attempts have seen little progress given Moscow’s “maximalist” terms for the end of the conflict. But both Washington and the Kremlin have indicated their willingness to consider a new meeting of the three-way talks by the end of October.
U.S. authorities meanwhile confirmed that President Donald Trump will have a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Apart from the death of a researcher at a Russian lab, there is no doubt that the Ukraine talks will continue to be a high priority for strategy on Air Force One during recent midterm campaign visits by envoy Steve Witkoff.
