Visit of Witkoff and Kushner restarts talks, but without breakthrough: key results

The first visit of US President’s representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv ended without announcing breakthrough agreements on ending the war, but the parties actually resumed the negotiation process. After three rounds of meetings, Ukraine and the US stated their intention to return to trilateral negotiations with Russia, and Kyiv, Washington, the UK, France, and Germany agreed to hold a new meeting soon.

The talks took place on September 6. Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Kyiv by train after a visit to Moscow, where the day before they talked for about three hours with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. This was the first visit of both representatives of US President Donald Trump to the Ukrainian capital since the start of the full-scale war.

According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, three rounds of negotiations took place in Kyiv, which he called substantive. Representatives of the UK, France, and Germany joined the final part. The parties discussed possible formats for further negotiations, the territorial issue, security guarantees, post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, as well as assistance in case the war continues in winter.

US wants to bring back trilateral negotiations

One of the main results of the visit was the return to the idea of talks in the US-Ukraine-Russia format. Kushner said that the American side considers this format more productive than negotiations through intermediaries, since representatives of Kyiv and Moscow can directly discuss contentious issues.

According to him, Washington has already raised this idea in contacts with both sides and hopes to achieve progress in the near future. Zelenskyy also supported the resumption of the negotiation format, allowing both trilateral meetings and participation of European partners in them.

The President of Ukraine emphasized that after a long break, the very resumption of negotiations is an important result. According to him, Witkoff and Kushner actually helped restore the diplomatic process after the US delegation's meeting with Putin in Moscow.

The next step should be a new meeting involving Ukraine, the US and the E3 countries - the UK, France and Germany. Its location and exact date have not yet been announced.

Territorial issue remains unresolved

One of the main stumbling blocks remains the issue of territories. Zelenskyy said that such complex decisions, in his opinion, can only be made at the level of state leaders.

Publicly, no rapprochement of the positions of Ukraine and Russia on territories was reported after Witkoff and Kushner's trips to Moscow and Kyiv. There was also no announcement of a specific agreement to hold a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin.

Witkoff after the talks, however, said he maintains confidence in the possibility of finding an acceptable solution. The US side considers it necessary to maintain direct channels of communication with both Kyiv and Moscow.

Security guarantees and post-war reconstruction

A separate block of negotiations concerned security guarantees for Ukraine. Zelenskyy said they should be strong and clear, and one of their central elements should remain a powerful Ukrainian army.

The parties also talked about economic guarantees, recovery of the country after the war and the so-called plan for the prosperity of Ukraine. Thus, the negotiations covered not only the conditions of a possible cessation of the war, but also a model of security and economic support after its end.

Ukraine requests air defense, energy assistance and LNG

The second large practical block was a possible winter assistance package. Zelenskyy said that if the war continues in winter, Ukraine expects significant support from the US and European countries.

This primarily concerns air defense systems, support for the energy system and the possibility of using significant volumes of American liquefied natural gas.

The President called ballistic missile defense one of Ukraine’s weak points. According to him, the American side plans to increase production of anti-missile missiles for Patriot systems next year, and Kyiv expects to receive additional capabilities to protect against ballistic strikes.

At the same time, Ukraine plans to develop its own anti-ballistic missile system. Zelenskyy said this issue will also be discussed during his meetings in Norway and Canada.

New US sanctions not discussed

Meanwhile, the US delegation during the Kyiv talks did not raise the issue of a bill to strengthen sanctions against Russia. Zelenskyy said Kyiv continues to count on its adoption in the US, but this package was not discussed directly with Witkoff and Kushner.

Visit ended after three rounds of talks

Thus, the main political result of the trip was not the achievement of a ready peace agreement, but the resumption of the negotiation mechanism after a pause. The American side is now trying to bring separate contacts with Kyiv and Moscow back into a direct multilateral format, but Russia’s agreement to a specific configuration of the next talks has not yet been announced.

On the night of September 7, Witkoff and Kushner completed their visit to Ukraine and left Kyiv by special train. Ukrzaliznytsia reported that they escorted the American representatives and invited them to come to Ukraine again.

Based on materials from: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, CNN, Ukrzaliznytsia