Zelenskyy laid it out in answers to journalists' questions on Saturday, October 17, which he posted on X. "The American negotiating track will continue," he wrote. "We're counting on them to put more pressure on Putin, not on us. Otherwise, it's simply unfair."
"As for our meetings with the American side — we expect to meet and are ready to meet in Ukraine or in Europe. If they want to meet in America, let them invite us," he said. "The American side has given us a signal that our meeting with them can happen next week."
"We're ready to negotiate anywhere, and we're ready for any format: three-way, two-way, four-way, five-plus — it doesn't matter. What matters is peace." — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
On a meeting with Putin, he said: "Regarding a meeting with Putin, the United States is working on this. They have a proposal for a trilateral meeting." The venues Washington has mentioned are a Middle Eastern country — the UAE or Saudi Arabia — the United States during the G20 summit in December, or a European country. "But there has been no confirmation yet from Russia or from the United States," he said. "The meeting could also take place in one of the European countries. I know that the Europeans are starting contacts about this. We'll see how things turn out a little later."
He also argued that Europe needs "its own infrastructure and its own track for negotiations with Russia," and said he plans to speak separately with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the sea and food security, and with representatives of Middle Eastern countries. "We need to pursue every possible avenue to stop the war," he said.
The openness came in the same set of Saturday posts where Zelenskyy attacked the other half of Washington's current approach — the sanctions relief. "Sanctions relief will continue. I think the diesel deal and the move regarding the Lindsey Graham Act are not the end of it. Unfortunately," he wrote. He praised the late Senator Lindsey Graham, whose sanctions bill Trump signed on Friday while waiving its toughest provisions: "We all had great respect for Lindsey. He devoted his life to America. And shortly before the tragedy, Lindsey was in Ukraine. He always supported us very strongly and pushed for as much assistance to Ukraine as possible."
"The decision to undo all of this, to block all of it, seems wrong to me. And it definitely helps only the Russians," he wrote. "It only fuels their satisfaction and their desire to keep killing people. This certainly does not stop the war." Earlier on Saturday he had warned that the relief could help a Russian effort to "cause a blackout in Ukraine."
The administration's position is that the waiver keeps the peace track alive. Trump certified under the Graham Act that the waiver is in the national interest of the United States, and the White House has said enforcing the sanctions now would hurt the peace talks. His envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, traveled to Russia and Ukraine last month to work the negotiations, and Trump has said plainly what he wants out of all of it: "I want that war ended. 25,000 soldiers on average a month are being killed. Last month, it was 32,000 soldiers. And I think the two leaders, I deal with both of them. I think they want that war ended, too."
Neither Moscow nor Washington has confirmed the trilateral meeting. Zelenskyy's bottom line, repeated across every post, was that the pressure belongs on the Kremlin: "We're counting on them to put more pressure on Putin, not on us."
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