War in Ukraine: American diplomacy and internal tensions in kyiv

The Kremlin says it “does not rule out” a resumption of talks between Moscow, kyiv and Washington to find a solution to the war in Ukraine, after a visit by American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

“We also do not exclude the resumption of the tripartite format, but it is still too early to talk about the location and precise dates,” Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko has rejected corruption charges following weekend searches of his administration in a case involving the lucrative sector of fraudulent call centers.

The Ukrainian anti-corruption agency (NABU) and the prosecutor's office specializing in these cases (SAP) announced on Saturday that they had uncovered a money laundering network "led by an official from the Prosecutor General's Office" and carried out searches in this administration.

According to investigators, this network received money to protect fraudulent call centers organizing telephone scams, and “legalized fortunes running into millions”.

These bribes were spent to acquire real estate, jewelry and other valuable assets, according to NABU. “I reject the allegations that I participated in receiving funds from illegal call centers and laundering them,” Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said in a message on Telegram on Sunday evening.

The Ukrainian president argued on Sunday that the territorial question could only be resolved during meetings between heads of state. “I want to stick to my position which is that such complex questions (on the territories) can only be resolved at the level of leaders,” he said during a press conference after his first talks in kyiv with Donald Trump’s emissaries.

Volodymyr Zelensky has long called for a meeting with his counterpart Vladimir Putin to resolve the question of territories, which the Kremlin refuses.

Ukraine's president said Sunday that despite his "positive" assessment of talks with visiting U.S. envoys in kyiv, the war against Russia appeared set to continue this winter, "for now."

“We very much hope to reach agreements with our American partners and we are counting on the support of our European partners, if the war continues into the winter, which seems to be the case for the moment,” Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press conference.

Hello everyone. Like every day, the 20 Minutes editorial team is working to give you all the information on the conflict between kyiv and Moscow.

To try to find a way out of the war, the United States replayed the diplomacy card this weekend while negotiations have been at a standstill since Washington launched its offensive against Iran at the end of February. Wanting to regain control of the Ukrainian issue, Donald Trump sent these two envoys to Moscow and kyiv on Saturday and Sunday. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were able to discuss at length with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.