U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted that any negotiations over his country's future must include Kyiv.
Speaking alongside the leaders of Finland and Norway in Oslo late on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said discussions with U.S. officials had been constructive and that Washington had reaffirmed its commitment to providing Ukraine with security guarantees.
But he stressed that any agreement concerning Ukraine's future would be acceptable only if Kyiv had a seat at the negotiating table.
"It can be acceptable only when we are at the table of negotiations," he said, adding that he had discussed the reported proposal of a trilateral meeting between the U.S., China, and Russia to negotiate an end to the almost five-year conflict with U.S. representatives. "Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine," he said.
Zelenskyy also said the Oslo meeting had included discussions on NATO's Article 5 – which says that an armed attack against one member constitutes an attack on all – and "different kinds of security guarantees," which Witkoff will share with the Russians. "We will hear his feedback in one day," Zelenskyy said Tuesday.