KYIV, June 8 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he had a “positive” conversation with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and praised what he called their readiness to work on a settlement of the Ukraine war in the coming weeks.
“A very positive conversation,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app of the conversation during a stopover in the Moldovan capital Chisinau.
“Grateful for the readiness to work as actively as possible already in the weeks to come to give a boost to diplomacy for ending Russia’s war against Ukraine,” he wrote.
Zelenskiy was returning to Kyiv from talks in London with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany on how to move forward with a settlement of the more than four-year-old war.
The three leaders supported a proposal for a meeting between Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to secure a ceasefire, and said Europe would play a role.
U.S.-brokered talks on the Ukraine conflict, overseen by Witkoff and Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, have been stalled, with Washington focused on the conflict in Iran.
In a subsequent post on Telegram, Zelenskiy said he spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron and discussed his conversation with the U.S. envoys and coordinating future steps.
He said the conversation also focused on Sunday’s talks in London with Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
In his comments on Telegram, Zelenskiy said he understood much of the world’s attention was concentrated on Iran, “but our common goal regarding peace in Europe is on the agenda”.
He said he and the U.S. envoys discussed the prospects of talks at the forthcoming G7 summit in the French resort of Evian and expressed thanks to the United States and for the “positive assessment of Ukraine’s position”.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials continue to discuss a possible visit to Kyiv by Witkoff and Kushner, potentially in coming weeks, a source familiar with the matter said. It would be the first official visit to Ukraine for the two envoys, who have previously travelled to Moscow for talks with Russia.
EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE A CEASEFIRE
At a special session of the U.N. Security Council on Monday, the fifth held on the war in 20 days, representatives from the European Union, the U.S. and China, among others, urged continued efforts to reach a ceasefire.
Indrika Ratwatte, acting assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told Security Council members that Russia was escalating the scale and intensity of its attacks on major Ukrainian population centers. At least 30 civilians were reported killed and 200 injured since Friday, he said.
Seven humanitarian vehicles were also damaged in attacks in the southern Kherson region, Ratwatte said, injuring aid workers and volunteers in what he called “unacceptable attacks.”
Ukraine’s permanent representative to the U.N., Andriy Melnyk, told the debate that Putin had rejected outright Zelenskiy’s proposal for a meeting of the two leaders in a letter he sent to the Kremlin leader last week.
Russian representative Vasily Nebenzya dismissed the Ukrainian leader’s proposal as “rudeness and ultimatums” and said Moscow sought a real settlement not “imitation talks”.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa in Kyiv and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Daniel Flynn, Ron Popeski and Lincoln Feast)
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