On the evening of September 22, 2026, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, a meeting took place between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to RBC-Ukraine, citing a statement by "Radio Svoboda" journalist Alex Raufoglu published on the social network X, the talks were scheduled for 20:15 Kyiv time. The format of the meeting was bilateral, on the sidelines of the annual UN session, which in itself sent a notable diplomatic signal against the backdrop of ongoing hostilities.
Who Was Present at the Talks
According to Raufoglu, Trump brought his key negotiators — special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff — to the meeting with Zelensky. Their presence indicates that the dialogue is being built not only at the level of heads of state but also at the level of working groups, which are expected to detail the agreements. It is precisely these two names that have been featured in American and Ukrainian media in recent months as the main curators of the negotiation track on the Ukrainian settlement.
Agenda: Energy Ceasefire and De-escalation
The main topic of the talks, according to RBC-Ukraine sources, was energy de-escalation. Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also noted in his comments that the leaders of the two countries would discuss the terms of a so-called energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. In essence, this is an attempt to freeze mutual strikes on energy infrastructure — one of the most sensitive and destructive elements of the conflict, directly affecting the civilian population on both sides.
Context and Expectations of the Parties
Based on public statements, the Ukrainian side ties hopes to this meeting for progress toward ending the war in the coming months — including by the winter of 2026. Political scientist Alexander Leonov notes that the very fact of holding the talks is a positive signal: just a few days earlier, their holding had not been officially confirmed, and the risk of cancellation was quite real. Thus, the very fact of a handshake in New York is viewed by analysts as a step toward normalizing the diplomatic channel between Washington and Kyiv.
Contradictory Data
When cross-checking publications, a discrepancy is found in the chronological presentation of the event. The main source (RBC-Ukraine, citing Raufoglu) phrases the event in the future tense — "will meet at 20:15 Kyiv time," which corresponds to an announcement before the start of the talks. At the same time, a number of other outlets (APA, Strana.news) already report in their headlines about the meeting in the past tense — "Zelensky and Trump met in New York." The difference is probably explained by the time of publication of the materials relative to the actual start of the talks at 20:15 Kyiv time; however, as of the preparation of this article, no single confirmed verbatim transcript of the talks has been publicly released. The details of the agreements reached at the table have, at this point, not been officially disclosed by either side.
