WASHINGTON DC – A Ukrainian delegation, led by Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential office, on Tuesday kicked off their Washington trip with a series of meetings with senior officials, including US President Donald Trump’s advisors, to discuss a range of pressing issues from military aid to economic recovery, to Russia sanctions.
The move came just a day after Ukrainian and Russian officials ended their second round of peace talks in Istanbul with no tangible progress on establishing a ceasefire or other major issues that have fueled the war into a fourth year.
“We need a ceasefire — we have fully supported the US proposal on this since March,” Yermak noted Tuesday afternoon in a social media post, following their talks with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to Russia, adding that Kyiv was ready for a leaders’ meeting, which Moscow continues to avoid.“Russia’s position remains unconstructive,” Yermak noted.
“I emphasized that Russia is stalling and manipulating the negotiation process in an attempt to avoid American sanctions, and has no genuine intention of ceasing hostilities. Only strong sanctions can compel Russia to engage in serious negotiations,” he added.
According to Yermak, the Ukrainian delegation briefed Witkoff on “the real situation on the battlefield” and invited him to visit Ukraine to witness the situation firsthand.
The delegation also met separately with Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, at the State Department.
“We discussed the situation on the front line, the outcomes of the meetings in Istanbul, [and] the importance of strengthening sanctions against Russia,” Yermak highlighted in separate social media posts.
He added that if Russia refuses to stop the aggression voluntarily, “we are compelled to conduct operations and destroy its military potential.” Washington talks came in the wake of the latest Ukrainian surprise operations deep inside Russia, most notably, over the weekend, which mauled Russia’s fleet of strategic bombers.
Early on Tuesday, just as the Ukrainian delegation landed in Washington, Kyiv targeted the symbolically important Kerch Bridge that connects Russia to Ukraine’s occupied territory of Crimea with explosives.
The US officials have not publicly commented on the latest Ukrainian operations. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked by reporters Tuesday afternoon why Trump has been silent on Ukraine’s weekend drone strikes and whether the attacks on Russian long-range bombers showed Volodymyr Zelenskyy had “some cards” in the war after all.
Dodging the first part of the question, Leavitt said Trump “remains positive on the progress that we’ve seen,” citing direct talks between Russia and Ukraine.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent in the daily briefing that Washington would assess the results of Istanbul talks by looking “at what people do, not what they say.”
“This’s now got to be between the parties,” she said, citing Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s prior comments.
Kyiv Post has learned from diplomatic sources that Rubio plans to meet with Yermak and Svyrydenko on Wednesday at the State Department.
During Tuesday’s talks with Trump officials, the Ukrainian delegation also addressed the issue of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
“We have handed over the lists to the Russian side and are awaiting a response — it is crucial to bring these children home,” Svyrydenko said on social media. “This is a matter of great importance, and we value the fact that the United States is engaged in this process,” she added.
The delegation also discussed the bilateral mineral deal with the Trump officials. Svyrydenko separately held meetings at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the International Finance Corporation on Tuesday to discuss Ukraine’s economic recovery, the issue that she said “isn’t waiting for peace – it’s being built now.”
“Our delegation is focused on restoring Ukraine’s growth, unlocking investment, and accelerating privatization,” she noted on social media.
As Trump officials prepare for the second day of high-level talks with the Ukrainian delegation on Wednesday, the biggest mystery for them is where diplomacy goes from here.
As one senior US official told Kyiv Post, the answer to this question “depends on whether the latest proposals [offered] by Russia in Istanbul are the typical negotiation tactics or ultimatums geared for public consumption.”