President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, held a bilateral meeting on Tuesday in New York on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly, in a gathering that the White House described as bilateral and which could mark a turning point in the efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Upon receiving the Ukrainian leader, Trump expressed optimism about the prospects for peace. "We have a very good relationship, both of us. The president and I are trying to find a solution, and I believe it will happen. I truly believe it," he stated to the press, according to the official White House account on the social media platform X.
The U.S. president also emphasized the strength of ties with Europe and referred to the recent agreement regarding Greenland as a demonstration of the current diplomatic dynamism. "You saw what just happened with Greenland, which was something very special," Trump added before inviting Zelenski to speak.
The meeting had been announced days earlier by Zelenski himself, who confirmed the appointment after a phone call with Trump and stated that the meeting "could change many things" for the conflict resolution efforts.
The agenda for the bilateral meeting included three main points: the signing of a new drone agreement between both countries, a possible truce in attacks on energy infrastructure, and broader de-escalation measures.
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who accompanied Trump to the General Assembly, had anticipated that the issue of the energy truce would be on the agenda.
The meeting is part of a diplomatic process that accelerated in early September, when Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner first traveled to Moscow and then to Kiev to revive peace talks, which resulted in a temporary three-day truce in airstrikes against the capitals of both countries.
On September 14, Trump announced that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to attack each other's energy infrastructure, a step that was presented as a tangible progress towards de-escalation.
Two days before the meeting in New York, Washington also approved a military sale to Ukraine valued at 2.68 billion dollars, a sign that U.S. support continues alongside diplomatic efforts.
This meeting is the second face-to-face encounter between both leaders in less than two months: on July 28, Zelensky visited the White House to discuss air defense matters, licenses for producing Patriot interceptors, and the resumption of peace negotiations with Russia.
According to the Kyiv Independent, Zelensky arrived in the United States with the intention of also advocating for a ceasefire in the Black Sea and additional de-escalation measures, in what the Ukrainian leader himself has referred to as his "number one priority": the path to peace.
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