Zelenskyy hails ‘constructive’ call with Trump envoys on Ukraine peace

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Keir Starmer will meet in London to 'take stock' of the US-led peace talks. Photo / Getty Images

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he and his negotiators who are discussing a United States-led plan for Ukraine had a “very substantive and constructive” call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

“Ukraine is committed to continuing to work honestly with the American side to bring about real peace,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram as the third day of the talks were to be held in Florida.

“We agreed on the next steps and the format of the talks with America,” he added.

Zelenskyy, who was in Kyiv, joined the call with top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov and Andriy Gnatov, the chief of staff of Kyiv’s armed forces, both of whom were in Miami for the talks with the US side.

Witkoff, who is US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, and Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, had been meeting Umerov and Gnatov since Thursday local time.

Trump’s team is trying to swiftly settle the conflict in Ukraine, which has run for nearly four years.

An initial US plan released two weeks ago was seen by Kyiv and its European allies as aligning too closely with many of Russia’s hardline positions, and has since been revised.

Zelenskyy said the call with Witkoff and Kushner “focused on many aspects and quickly discussed 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 failing to fulfil its promises, as has happened many times in the past”.

He said he was waiting a “detailed report” from Umerov and Gnatov.

“We cannot discuss everything over the phone, so we need to work in detail with the teams on ideas and proposals,” he added.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s approach to the negotiations was that “everything must be capable of working, every important thing for peace, security and reconstruction”.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that he, Zelenskyy, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz would meet in London on Monday local time to “take stock” of the negotiations.

- Agence France-Presse