Washington has put forward plans for another round of US-brokered peace talks next week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.
The negotiations, originally set for last week in the United Arab Emirates, were pushed back to next week by the US and could take place in Switzerland or Turkey, Zelensky told reporters in an audio message.
“This was proposed by the American side, but we’ll see what happens in the Middle East, to be honest,” the president said to journalists.
Key agenda items for the talks will include continuing prisoner exchanges and laying the groundwork for a possible meeting between the respective leaders. Kyiv continues to insist on Europe’s participation in peace discussions, Zelensky added.
Meanwhile, US special envoy Steve Witkoff told CNBC on Tuesday that “there was supposed to be a trilateral this week.”
“I think the trilateral will be shifted until some time next week, and... we’re going to remain positive on that,” he said.
Just yesterday, Zelensky had said that talks had been postponed at the request of Washington because “the partners’ priority and all attention are focused on the situation around Iran.”
In a post on X earlier on Tuesday, Zelensky had said after a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Turkey was ready to host the next round of trilateral peace talks.
“The President noted that Turkey is ready to host the next round of talks in a trilateral format. We appreciate this initiative and hope it can produce results,” Zelensky said.
The Kremlin had also referenced the peace talks earlier in the day, noting that no date or location had been agreed for the next round at that stage.
In a news briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that all parties involved, including itself, had an interest in continuing efforts to reach a settlement.
It came after US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday held their first call of the year to discuss the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the Kremlin and White House said.
Trump on Tuesday described the call as “very good” at a conference with reporters at his golf club in Florida. The Kremlin said that Putin had urged Trump to end the war in the Middle East.
“I said, ‘you could be more helpful by getting the Ukraine-Russia war over with. That will be more helpful’,” Trump told journalists.
It was also reported Monday that Trump is weighing a reduction of oil sanctions on Russia to help ease pressure on the global energy market.