Zelensky says he expects war to continue into winter after talks with US envoys

BBC:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he expects the war with Russia to continue into the winter, following talkswith Donald Trump’s top envoys in Kyiv.

The discussions finished without an announcement of a major breakthrough, after Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Ukraine for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion. The previous day, the pair had held talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Witkoff said he was “encouraged” by what he called “substantive” and important talks in Kyiv.

Zelensky stressed that he wanted a just peace with no opportunity for renewed aggression by Russia.

Following rounds of talks on Sunday, which lasted several hours behind closed doors, Zelensky told reporters they had agreed officials from Ukraine, Europe and America would meet in the near future to continue discussions. He also called for a trilateral meeting with Russia and the US.

“We’re confident there’ll be a good resolution here,” Witkoff said, adding the negotiators had “made a lot of progress in Moscow”, referring to the pair’s discussions on Saturday.

When asked about the talks in Moscow, Kushner said the US team “went through a lot of the ideas that hadn’t worked to date” and “tried to think about” what elements are needed for “durable peace”.