Special presidential envoys of US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, will hold a meeting in New York with delegations from Ukraine and three European countries to discuss Ukraine's proposals for de-escalating the conflict with Russia. This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing a post by Axios journalist Barak Ravid on the social network X, confirmed by an informed source at the Ukrainian outlet. According to two of Ravid's sources, the advisor-level talks are scheduled for the evening of September 22 US time, which corresponds to the transition into the night of September 23 in Kyiv time.
Format of the meeting and composition of the delegations
On the US side, the talks will be attended precisely by Witkoff and Kushner — two of Trump's key special envoys who have been leading Washington's line on a settlement over the past few months. They intend to discuss with the Ukrainian negotiating team and the national security advisors of the United Kingdom, France and Germany (the so-called E3 "troika") Ukraine's proposals for an agreement on de-escalating the conflict with Russia. As the quoted post states verbatim: "Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet with the Ukrainian negotiating team and the national security advisors of the United Kingdom, France and Germany to discuss Ukraine's proposals for an agreement on de-escalating the conflict with Russia." An informed source at RBC-Ukraine confirmed that the advisor-level meeting involving Witkoff, Kushner and E3 representatives is indeed scheduled for the evening US time.
Progress on Patriot and "the ball is in Russia's court"
According to the same source, during the meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, certain progress was made on the issue of licenses for Patriot air defense missile systems. As for the other key settlement issues, the source notes that the "ball is in Russia's court" for now, although the Russian side has so far refrained from responding. Thus, at this stage, the de-escalation initiative from Kyiv and its allies is stalling due to the absence of a position from Moscow.
Energy ceasefire: Zelensky's condition
Against the backdrop of the war-ending question progressing with difficulty, a scenario of a so-called energy ceasefire is not ruled out. In recent weeks, Trump has stated that, in his words, the price of fuel and diesel is rising worldwide due to Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, and in this connection he has called for such strikes to be stopped. Against this backdrop, the Ukrainian side has declared its readiness for an energy ceasefire on the condition that Russia stops attacking Ukrainian infrastructure. Meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Zelensky stated a clear condition to journalists: "If they do not want us to strike their oil refining capacity, then let them not touch our energy system, water supply. You do not strike this of ours, then we will leave yours alone." At the same time, the Ukrainian president emphasized that during today's contacts there were no calls for Ukraine to unilaterally stop its strikes.
Context and significance of the talks
The meeting in New York takes place against the backdrop of ongoing efforts by Washington, Kyiv and European capitals to work out at least a partial reduction in the intensity of hostilities. The "advisors + E3 + special envoys" format indicates that the US is trying to synchronize Ukraine's position with that of key European partners ahead of possible higher-level contacts. Meanwhile, as sources note, without a response from Moscow, real steps toward de-escalation, including a possible energy ceasefire, remain on pause, and the progress achieved on Patriot becomes one of the few concrete results of the current cycle of negotiations.
