Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that his call with U.S. President Donald Trump reinforced expectations that a planned March trilateral meeting between Ukraine, Russia and the United States could open the door to elevating negotiations to the leaders’ level, as Washington confirmed the two presidents had spoken ahead of the next round of talks on ending the war.
Zelenskyy also said that Trump supported the sequence of the steps.
In a statement on X following the phone call, which he said was also attended by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Zelenskyy said they also discussed preparing for the next trilateral peace talks between Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington "at the very beginning of March."
"We expect this meeting to create an opportunity to move talks to the leaders' level. President Trump supports this sequence of steps. This is the only way to resolve all the complex and sensitive issues and finally end the war," Zelenskyy said.
Expressing that both Ukrainian and American teams work "intensively," Zelenskyy said he "thanked them for all their work and for their active involvement in the negotiations and the efforts to end the war."
"We also greatly value the PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List) initiative. This winter has been the most difficult one for Ukraine, but the missiles for air defense systems that we purchase from the U.S. are helping us get through all these challenges and protect lives," he added.
Earlier, Zelenskyy announced a bilateral meeting between the U.S. envoys and Ukraine's chief negotiator Rustem Umerov on Thursday, during which, he said, the two countries will discuss the "Prosperity Package" for Ukraine, among other issues.
"I just spoke with Rustem Umerov. Tomorrow, he will meet with American negotiators Witkoff and Kushner," Zelenskyy told journalists, adding Umerov will, for the first time, be accompanied by Economy Minister Oleksii Sobolev.
