Ukraine prepares for three-way peace talks with the US and Russia in October
Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, said at the Yalta European Strategy forum in Kyiv that Ukraine is preparing for trilateral peace talks with the United States and Russia in October, without naming a venue. According to Budanov an initial agreement would centre on gradual de-escalation rather than a comprehensive settlement, starting with Black Sea shipping and fewer strikes on civilian targets. The remark followed the Kyiv visit of US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and a Trump-Putin call. The Kremlin does not rule out talks.
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Preparing for October, with no venue named
Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, told reporters on the sidelines of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) forum, the annual conference held in Kyiv, that his team was preparing for a three-way meeting and that the target was October. He confirmed that the preparations concerned a trilateral format of Ukraine, the United States and Russia and declined to comment on a possible venue. According to Budanov the new round could convene in early October, and an initial agreement would centre on practical, step-by-step de-escalation measures rather than an immediate comprehensive political settlement, with Black Sea maritime transit as the primary issue, followed by a reduction in the volume of strikes on civilian objects and critical infrastructure. Everyone had exchanged views on the matter, he added; the Russians were well aware of it and were considering how to handle it, and Ukraine was waiting. He stressed that it was important for the United States and Europe to take part in the negotiations.[1], [2]
The Witkoff-Kushner shuttle and the Trump-Putin call
The remark came after a week of intense diplomacy. US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and then travelled overland to Kyiv, where they met Ukrainian officials on 6 September, a day after the Moscow talks, accompanied by European national security advisers. Trump and Putin then spoke by telephone for about an hour on 8 September; according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, the conversation focused on the parameters of a settlement in Ukraine, with Putin presenting his assessment of the battlefield and setting out Moscow's conditions for a cessation of hostilities. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on 9 September that the contacts had been substantive. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow did not rule out talks but that it was still too early to say when or where they would take place.[1], [2]
Talks with European advisers and an expected Trump-Zelenskyy meeting in New York
Budanov spoke after high-level talks on the sidelines of the YES forum with European national security advisers, among them Germany's Günter Sautter, France's Emmanuel Bonne, Italy's Fabrizio Saggio and the United Kingdom's Jonathan Powell, and after an expanded bilateral meeting with the British delegation to coordinate joint diplomatic positions ahead of the autumn's multilateral summits. He repeated that Ukraine and its partners must accelerate efforts to build a durable post-war European security architecture and that Ukraine and its armed forces must be an indispensable part of that framework. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for his part, said during a visit to Canada that he expects to meet US President Donald Trump in New York at the end of September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly and that direct talks with Trump would give a clearer picture of Washington's mediation efforts; Ukrainian and American teams, he said, are in constant dialogue on energy security and Black Sea export routes.[2]
