Zelensky: Ukraine at stronger negotiating position as Trump team secretly prepares three-way Russia peace talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said his war-torn country is gaining the upper hand against Russia — and revealed Kyiv and Washington are quietly laying the groundwork for a potential three-way peace meeting with Moscow.

Speaking after the first-ever visit to wartime Kyiv by President Trump’s top Ukraine-Russia negotiators Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Zelensky said Kyiv and Washington have agreed to prepare the framework for a three-way meeting between Ukraine, Russia and the US *before publicly announcing it.

(*That’s a key part, after Russia particularly has previously leaked supposed trilateral meeting dates, sites and agreements that have turn out to be flat-wrong or one-sided.”)

“We will first prepare it among ourselves, and only then communicate it to the public,” Zelensky told reporters.

The meeting could take place as early as this fall, he said, with the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and Turkey among the potential venues.

Zelensky said he hopes to meet with Trump in September to discuss the negotiations — as well as Ukraine’s desperate need for American-made anti-ballistic missiles ahead of another winter of Russian attacks.

“Until that result is there, we need ballistic packages from the Americans,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president is hoping to meet the US president on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in a few weeks.

‘Russia has many losses’

Despite Russia’s continued missile and drone attacks, Zelensky said what Ukraine-watchers have known for some time: *Kyiv is in a stronger negotiating position than it was previously.

“Since the end of 2025, let us say, we have been strengthening on the battlefield,” he said. “Russia has many losses and few gains.”

Zelensky said American military officials and analysts had reached a similar assessment of the battlefield.

(*I discuss this topic in our first-ever episode of “The Correspondent Podcast” with the Institute of Study of War’s George Barros. Check it out here.)

The Ukrainian leader also revealed that Witkoff and Kushner had brought new proposals for a potential peace deal — and some of them were promising.

“Indeed, a couple of the ideas were very good, decent,” Zelensky said.

But he refused to give further detaila, citing Kyiv and Washington’s agreement to work through the proposals privately before releasing them publicly.

Ukraine demands more Patriots

While negotiations continue, Zelensky warned that Ukraine urgently needs additional air defenses before winter.

Moscow traditionally intensifies its fight in winter, using Ukraine’s frigid temperatures against Kyiv as they target power plants to literally freeze-out the Ukrainian will. (It hasn’t worked yet.)

He said Russian forces launched roughly 180 aerial targets in one recent barrage, with Ukrainian forces shooting down about 90% of them.

More than three dozen cruise missiles were intercepted, he said, although Ukraine remains particularly vulnerable to ballistic missiles.

Britain has pledged £100 million — roughly $135 million — for Ukraine’s winter defense, specifically to help provide Patriot air-defense systems.

Ukraine is also working with the US on licenses to manufacture missiles and Patriot components domestically, Zelensky said.

Energy could become a bargaining chip

Energy and grain are expected to be major issues in any future negotiations.

Zelensky said Ukraine is prepared to compromise on those issues, but warned that Kyiv would oppose any economic agreement that gives Moscow new ways to bankroll its war machine.

“Ukraine must fight against any additional opportunities for Russia to finance this war,” he said.

The idea is to only offer incentives after Putin ends his war.

That warning comes after Witkoff and Kushner also held discussions in Moscow over the weekend about potential economic arrangements with Russia.

Zelensky said he did not know the full details of those discussions but suggested energy would likely be at the center of any deal.

Zelensky wants US envoys back in Kyiv

Zelensky was also eager to ensure Witkoff and Kushner’s historic trip to Ukraine is not the last — presumably so the Trump administration avoids being influenced by Moscow over Kyiv.

“One would like them to be here more often in order to show balance, respect both for Moscow and for Kyiv,” Zelensky said.

Witkoff and Kushner traveled to Kyiv by train rather than flying, after Russian strikes hit the runways at Kyiv’s airports.

Most people come by train — this correspondent included — but Zelensky said Ukraine had been prepared to receive an American aircraft, and insisted its airports were technically capable of handling the delegation.

But then Russia bombed it.

Zelensky did offer to make Witkoff and Kushner’s next trip easier.

“If they do not want to fly on an American plane,” Zelensky said, he could arrange for his presidential aircraft to pick them up from Poland or another country bordering Ukraine.

Russia could mobilize 300,000 more troops

Zelensky also warned that Moscow could be preparing for a massive new mobilization.

He said Ukraine expects Russia could seek to add at least 300,000 soldiers to its forces after elections in Russia.

Zelensky predicted Moscow would avoid openly discussing mobilization beforehand to prevent alarming the Russian public.

But he said Ukraine expects the situation to change once Russia’s 18–20 September 2026 legislative elections are over.

“After the elections, we are certain,” Zelensky said.

Europe demands a seat at the table

Zelensky also insisted that Europe cannot be sidelined from any eventual peace settlement.

European countries, he said, are not merely sources of money and weapons but will be responsible for helping provide Ukraine with long-term security guarantees and rebuilding the country after the war.

“Europe will be in all future formats of talks,” he said.

But whether this renewed diplomatic push can turn the latest round of secret negotiations into an actual peace agreement is the real question.