In an interview carried by the DW agency and cited by RBC-Ukraine, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky stated that Kyiv holds a "truly strong position" in the context of peace negotiations to end the war started by Russia. The head of state emphasized that during his meeting with U.S. President's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Kyiv, he "made it clear to them" that Ukraine currently has all the prerequisites for conducting productive negotiations. In his words, it is precisely the visit of the American mediators to the Ukrainian capital that is a "positive signal" and a confirmation that the diplomatic track is gaining momentum.
Military Trump Card: More Than 30,000 Neutralized Monthly
The key argument in favor of Kyiv's negotiating position, Zelensky named the operational performance of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. According to him, Ukrainian military personnel manage to neutralize more than 30,000 Russian servicemen every month, which, in the president's words, represents a "heavy price" for Moscow's "meager gains on the battlefield." He named the overall increase in combat readiness as the second structural advantage: "We have truly become stronger than we were last year," Zelensky noted, adding that it is precisely the combination of these factors that gives Kyiv a "strong position for negotiations." Separately, the president mentioned that he had previously disclosed the volume of missile systems Ukraine needs monthly to counter Russian ballistics, but did not provide specific figures in this interview.
Energy Ceasefire as "Step Number One"
A separate block of discussion with Donald Trump's team was the idea of a so-called "energy ceasefire" with Russia. Zelensky expressed the view that it was precisely the cessation of mutual strikes on energy infrastructure that could serve as a starting point for a broader negotiation process. "What could lead us to any negotiations? Well, energy and grain. That is step number one — something we can achieve," the president summed up, effectively proposing a bilateral or multilateral formula for freezing strikes on energy facilities and ensuring unimpeded grain exports as the first practical outcome of the diplomatic track.
Contradictory Data
It is important to note that all the quantitative figures cited above — in particular, the figure of 30,000 Russian servicemen neutralized per month — are exclusively the president Zelensky's estimate and have not been confirmed by independent military analysts or international observers. The Russian side, for its part, systematically disputes Ukrainian data on losses and has not commented on the proposed "energy ceasefire" formula. Thus, the negotiating position voiced by Kyiv relies on one-sided military statistics, and the energy initiative remains at the stage of a presidential proposal without a confirmed response from Moscow. Various Ukrainian media outlets (RBC-Ukraine, TSN, BBC Russian) broadcast the content of the statement almost identically, but none of them provides external verification data on the military figures.
Context: Readiness for a Personal Meeting with Putin and a Repeat Visit by the Mediators
Zelensky's statements about a "strong position" come against the backdrop of the previously announced readiness of the president to personally meet with Vladimir Putin, for which he has already named a potential location and time for such contact. In parallel, as "Svobidna Pressa" reports citing the Ukrainian side, Witkoff and Kushner plan to visit Ukraine again, indicating the formation of a regular format for consultations between Kyiv and Washington. The combination of these factors — regular visits by American mediators, readiness for direct contact with the Russian leader, and a clearly formulated "road map" from an energy ceasefire to a broader settlement — paints a picture in which Kyiv is trying to lock in the military dynamics as negotiating capital before the onset of the winter period, which, according to Ukrainian experts, could become critical for the country's energy security.
