Zelensky meets Ukraine's negotiating team ahead of US envoys' arrival

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky convened a meeting with the country's negotiating team ahead of a visit by US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are set to arrive in Kyiv on September 6. Zelensky announced the meeting on social media.

The meeting included Presidential Office head Kyrylo Budanov, First Deputy Head of the Office Serhii Kyslytsia, Foreign Intelligence Service chief Rustem Umerov, and leader of the "Servant of the People" faction in the Verkhovna Rada, Davyd Arakhamia.

Zelensky said the Ukrainian side had prepared its proposals for the upcoming talks. He stressed that Ukraine has always been and will remain constructive, and is interested in bringing the war closer to its end. The president noted that peace, security guarantees, and a dignified character of the postwar settlement are needed.

Background

US presidential special representatives Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Moscow on Saturday, heading to the Kremlin after a business lunch with Russian ruler's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev. The American negotiators are expected in Kyiv on Sunday.

On the afternoon of September 5, the Kremlin announced that Putin had ordered a halt to strikes on Kyiv for three days starting at midnight. After speaking with the US president's representatives, Zelensky also stated readiness to observe a halt on air strikes against cities involved in the negotiation process.

Following talks between Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and US representatives Witkoff and Kushner at the Kremlin, key theses of the negotiations were highlighted.