Key developments:

• Zelensky held talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Kyiv on Sept. 6.


• The US envoys made their first Kyiv visit after meeting Putin in Moscow on Sept. 5.


• They arrived by train; Zelensky said Russian strikes prevented a flight.


• The bilateral US-Ukraine talks addressed Ukraine's winter needs, sources said.


• The US envoys and Zelensky then held another round of joint talks with European officials.


• Zelensky said after the talks that he expects the war to continue and counts on US support during winter.


• US envoys hope to resume trilateral talks involving Kyiv and Moscow. Trump expected to speak to Putin, then Zelensky after briefing on Sept. 7, sources said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as they arrived in Kyiv for the first time on Sept. 6, amid Washington's renewed diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

The arrival came only a day after the two envoys held more than three hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, a discussion both sides described as "substantive."

The talks do not appear to have yielded a major breakthrough, with Zelensky telling reporters after the meeting that he expects "the war will continue" into the winter months.

Zelensky and the envoys also mentioned future trilateral meetings — including U.S.-Ukraine-Europe talks and U.S.-Ukraine-Russia talks —without announcing the dates or locations of the expected discussions.

The president said the discussions centered on winter support, security guarantees, economic guarantees, and Patriot air defense supplies for Ukraine.

Envoys arrive in Kyiv

After welcoming and embracing both men at Kyiv's Sofiiska Square, Zelensky announced on social media at 2:15 p.m. local time that talks with the U.S. envoys had begun.

Shortly before their arrival, Zelensky stressed the need for security guarantees and a "dignified character of the postwar peace."

"Our proposals are ready," he added.

The initial U.S.-Ukraine discussions addressed Ukraine's winter needs, people familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent.

The country is bracing for a new wave of Russian strikes against its energy grid during the winter months, after Moscow's aerial campaign last winter destroyed 9 GW of the country's energy generation.

Roughly three hours later, people familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent that the bilateral U.S.-Ukrainian discussions had concluded. Ukrainian and U.S. officials then joined another stage of talks together with national security advisers from the U.K., France, and Germany.

The Ukrainian negotiating team includes presidential Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov; his first deputy, Serhii Kyslytsia; the parliamentary leader of Zelensky's party, David Arakhamia; and the foreign intelligence chief, Rustem Umerov.

In brief comments for journalists, Witkoff said the talks had been "substantive" and "meaningful," noting that the envoys are "encouraged" with the progress so far.

Kushner relayed "personal regards" from Trump and underscored the importance of building "long-term, durable peace" that will allow Ukraine "to build themselves into the great nation that they have the fullest potential to achieve."

Zelensky, in turn, thanked both the U.S. envoys and the European officials for their visit, emphasizing that the war should be ended in a way that prevents Russia from launching aggression again.

"We are all on the same side," Zelensky commented. "We all want the war to end."

A source familiar with the matter told the Kyiv Independent that Zelensky gifted the U.S. envoys T-shirts reading "Kyiv Regime" — a tongue-in-cheek reference to how Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov referred to the Ukrainian government a day earlier.

A U.S. official told the Kyiv Independent that the talks were taking place in a "positive atmosphere."

'We expect the war will continue'

In a press conference following the talks on Sept. 6, Zelensky indicated that the recent peace push would not lead to an end to the war anytime soon.

"If the war continues — and we expect the war will continue — we are counting heavily on the winter aid package ... on support for both air defense and the energy sector," the president told reporters.

Despite the lack of breakthrough, Zelensky said the resumption of diplomatic negotiations was itself a positive step.

"I'm grateful that, despite the long hiatus in any format of negotiations, we may find some form of negotiations acceptable, but it's still worse when there are none at all," he said.

The presence of Trump's representatives in Kyiv also shielded residents in the capital with "even better protection than the Patriot systems," he joked.

Zelensky's comment followed a 10-day assault on Kyiv, paused only after Putin agreed to a brief cessation of attacks on the capital during the envoys' visit. While he expressed gratitude for the respite, his forecast for material air defense support — in the form of urgently needed U.S. Patriot missiles — was bleak.

"(T)he American side will increase the production volumes of anti-ballistic missiles, Patriot systems next year ... we were counting on such systems to protect our state, so we will increase the volume next year," he said.

The Ukrainian team also emphasized the need for security guarantees and economic support for post-war recovery, the president said. He identified economic recovery and a strong Ukrainian army as among the primary security guarantees the country needs.

Zelensky also said that additional negotiations would be held soon.

"We've agreed that Ukraine, Europe, and the U.S. will meet in the near future," he said. It has not been decided whether the talks will take place in Europe, the U.S., or again in Ukraine, he added.

'Everyone was speaking in Russian to each other'

Jared Kushner indicated to reporters after the talks that the U.S. hoped to resume trilateral negotiations with both Russia and Ukraine as part of the next steps towards peace.

"One thing Steve and I really thought would be productive is to go back to the trilateral format, which we were able to do about six months ago," Kushner said at the briefing.

"And we've spoken with both parties, and so hopefully we'll have progress on that very soon."

Kushner said he and Witkoff preferred the trilateral format "because we had everyone talking with each other."

"Everyone was speaking in Russian to each other. We were discussing these issues in a very extra-friendly manner, all in Russian," he told the assembly of Ukrainian reporters in Kyiv.

Kushner also described the previous day's talks with Putin as "a very good dialogue."

The U.S. representatives' apparent friendliness with the Kremlin met with pushback from the Ukrainian press.

When asked by one Ukrainian journalist if he was "ashamed to sit at the same table with an international war criminal," Witkoff insisted that "we've always been treated respectfully by President Putin and his team."

"Relationships are critical in terms of solving conflicts like this. ... My job and Jared's job, together, is to bring the parties together," he said.

Trump is expected to speak with Putin, then Zelensky, after being briefed by his envoys on the latest round of talks, a source familiar with the matter said.

The calls are expected to take place Sept. 7, a U.S. official told the Kyiv Independent.

Long-awaited journey to Kyiv

The U.S. envoys arrived in Kyiv by train and were welcomed at the railway station by top Ukrainian officials, including Budanov, Arakhamia, Kyslytsia, and Umerov.

The American negotiators then met Zelensky, who accompanied them to the St. Sophia Cathedral — one of Kyiv's best-known churches — before the negotiations began.

"The trip was great," Witkoff commented on his journey to Ukraine, even as a source had previously told the Kyiv Independent that the envoy had long been reluctant to travel to the country by rail.

Zelensky said during the post-meeting briefing that the next meeting might be held in Ukraine again, as Witkoff so enjoyed traveling by train.

"I loved the train," Witkoff confirmed.

Zelensky told journalists that Ukrainian airports were also prepared for the U.S. envoys to arrive by plane, but Russian aerial strikes — including attacks near the capital's airport — prevented that option.

Instead, the envoys flew from Russia to the Polish airport in Rzeszow before taking the train to Kyiv.

Russia and Ukraine agreed to refrain from aerial strikes against each other's capitals to ensure the safety of the U.S. negotiators, though the Kremlin rejected Ukraine's call for a broader pause in hostilities.

Moscow's forces carried out strikes across multiple Ukrainian regions overnight on Sept. 6, sparking a fire in Kyiv Oblast. No hits were reported in the city of Kyiv itself.

Witkoff and Kushner are making their first, repeatedly postponed visit to Ukraine's capital amid the fresh U.S.-led push to broker a conclusion to the full-scale Russian invasion, which has been ongoing for more than four and a half years.

Negotiations stall as winter looms

The negotiations have been effectively in deadlock since earlier this year as Moscow continues to reject a ceasefire along the current front lines and demands that Kyiv cede Donbas — a partially occupied and strategically vital region in Ukraine's east — and give up on its NATO membership aspirations.

Budanov told the New York Times that the U.S.-mediated peace talks could resume in late September, shortly after the Russian State Duma elections and weeks before the U.S. midterm elections.

Nevertheless, the Kremlin has not signaled an intent to concede on its territorial demands, and Kyiv warned that Russian forces are preparing to escalate strikes against Ukrainian cities and the energy grid in winter.

The talks in Moscow did not seem to yield a breakthrough, as Putin said he expects Russia to meet its "goals" and that Moscow wants the "root causes" of its war to be resolved.

A White House official told journalists that the two parties "discussed substantive plans for next steps, which will be announced in the coming weeks," without disclosing further details.