Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he expects to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump by the end of September, as Washington steps up efforts to revive negotiations to end Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Zelenskyy said securing additional US air-defence missiles would be a key issue at the meeting, with Kyiv seeking an urgently needed “winter package” of anti-ballistic missile interceptors.
Speaking to reporters in the presidential WhatsApp chat, Zelenskyy said he discussed Ukraine’s shortage of advanced air defences with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during their visit to Kyiv over the weekend.
“I am counting on a meeting…with President Trump, raising this issue and, God willing, there will be a result,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian president said Kyiv explained to Witkoff and Kushner in detail what it needed from a US “winter package” and when the weapons would be required.
“We talked with Witkoff and Kushner about the shortage that we have, which we feel regarding the winter package, a package of anti-ballistic missiles,” he said.
“Until we have this result, we need ballistic missile packages from the Americans. They heard in detail what we need and when we need it.”
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine was moving towards a new trilateral negotiating format with the United States and Russia, although he declined to disclose details of the preparations.
“We are also moving, in my view, towards a trilateral format,” he said. “Here I cannot disclose all the details. We agreed with the American side: let us prepare all of this between ourselves first and then communicate it to the public.”
The United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and Turkey are among the possible locations for such a meeting, Zelenskyy said, adding that several countries had offered to host talks.
He said energy infrastructure and grain exports could form part of prospective talks with Russia, alongside humanitarian issues, particularly prisoner-of-war exchanges.
“We need not only to discuss (these issue), but to have a concrete result,” Zelenskyy said.
Europe ‘will be’ in future negotiations
Zelenskyy also sought to make clear that renewed US-led diplomacy would not exclude Kyiv’s European allies from negotiations.
He said European diplomats maintained their own contacts with Russia, stressing that Washington was not the only channel of communication with Moscow.
“Let’s be honest: they are thinking about the security of all of Europe,” Zelenskyy said of European governments.
“That is why it is clear that they must be at the table in any format of negotiations.”
He also pointed to Ukraine’s prospective EU membership, post-war reconstruction and future security guarantees as areas in which European involvement would remain essential.
European representatives already took part in the latest talks in Kyiv alongside the US delegation, he said, adding that Europe would be involved in all future negotiating formats.
Patriot licences and the winter shortage
Alongside diplomacy, Zelenskyy said Kyiv was continuing direct negotiations with Trump over licences for the production of Patriot missiles, as Ukraine seeks a longer-term answer to its dependence on US supplies.
He said talks were taking place both between the Ukrainian and US teams and at manufacturer level, and that Trump had responded positively, although Kyiv was seeking to accelerate the process.
For now, however, Ukraine’s immediate concern is securing enough interceptors to protect the country through the coming winter.
Zelenskyy said he had told Ukraine’s partners that a winter air-defence package was now Kyiv’s priority.
Britain on Tuesday announced a €116mn contribution to Ukraine’s winter air-defence package, including support for Patriot missiles, as well as other air-defence interceptors, artillery ammunition and drones. The equipment is due to be delivered before winter through NATO’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List programme.
Zelenskyy spoke as Russia launched another attack on Kyiv, with a drone striking a television station while journalists were live on air.
The building was partially destroyed and at least five people were reported injured, according to Zelenskyy. Emergency workers extinguished a fire at the site, while authorities warned that the number of casualties could rise.
“‘Shaheds’ against the media mark a new chapter in Russia’s degradation and Europe and the world must certainly respond to this,” Zelenskyy said.
“Not a single strike against Ukraine and Ukrainians – against life itself – can be left unpunished. Russia must be stopped and this is possible only through joint efforts.”