Zelensky talks with US special envoy to discuss wintering challenges and support for Ukraine

China News Service, September 7. According to comprehensive foreign media reports, on the 6th local time, Ukrainian President Zelensky held a meeting with U.S. President Trump’s special envoy Witkov and son-in-law Kushner. The U.S. representative said the meeting was "very substantive."

Data map: Zelensky.

Discussing wintering challenges and supporting Ukraine

According to Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV station, Ukraine and the United States held several hours of talks that day. That night, the Ukrainian and American teams continued to hold talks with the national security advisers of Britain, Germany and France.

According to reports, Zelensky said that he discussed in detail with Witkov and Kushner the challenges faced by Ukraine during the winter and the support provided by U.S. and European partners to Ukraine. Ukraine looks forward to receiving a large amount of assistance in air defense and energy. Ukraine and the United States discussed the possibility of using American liquefied gas to survive the winter.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Zelensky said after the meeting that he expected the conflict with Russia to likely continue into the winter.

Zelensky also emphasized that day that a serious shortage of air defense interception weapons made Ukraine vulnerable to ballistic missile attacks, which he called the country's "weakness." Zelensky said: "The United States will increase the production of Patriot anti-ballistic missiles next year. We rely on such systems to defend the country, so next year we will increase production - I am confident about this."

CNN reported that Zelensky also said that "several new ideas" were discussed during "good talks" with the United States, but he did not elaborate.

Was the meeting "very substantive"?

According to reports, Witkov said after the meeting, "The parties have had a very meaningful, substantive and important discussion. We are very encouraged and look forward to continuing until the goals are achieved."

Kushner said at a press conference after the talks that he preferred three-way talks because it would allow the parties involved to communicate directly. He added that the United States had communicated with both sides about the idea and said "hopefully we will be able to make progress on this soon."

Kushner also mentioned that Trump not only wants to understand how to end the current conflict, but also how to create the right conditions for long-term and lasting peace. He added that the U.S. team "learned a lot from this visit."

Al Jazeera analyzed that this meeting revealed almost no new information and "seemed to just delay the issue." Zelensky has said many times that the most important issues, such as territorial issues, must be dealt with by leaders.