President Volodymyr Zelenskiy endorsed a US proposal for three-way negotiations with Russia, targeting a sit-down as soon as early November. Speaking to reporters via WhatsApp while returning to Kyiv from Norway, Zelenskiy said Ukraine “supports that” and expects the meeting to happen “as early as possible, in November.”
The move follows a high-stakes trip by US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. Witkoff’s visit came just a day after his talks with Zelenskiy in Norway—a sequence that had fueled anxiety in Kyiv and among European allies that Washington was pulling back from the front lines. Zelenskiy clarified that after his own conversations with US officials, he received feedback that Moscow “supports a trilateral meeting at the level of our (negotiating) teams.”
Kyiv’s stance is pragmatic. Zelenskiy stated Ukraine is open to “any proposals for a ceasefire, an end to the war, an energy ceasefire as well as humanitarian initiatives.” This is a significant diplomatic pivot. Earlier in the day, the Kremlin confirmed Putin agreed to resume US-mediated peace talks as soon as next month, aligning the Russian position with the American timeline.
The next 48 hours will be critical. US and Ukrainian counterparts are currently working to lock in the logistics for the November session. If the teams meet, it marks the first direct high-level engagement between the warring sides’ negotiators under the US umbrella since the conflict’s early stages. Diplomats in Brussels are watching closely, hoping the “energy ceasefire” language hints at tangible de-escalation rather than just procedural talk.