Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 25 that a trilateral meeting with Russia and the United States will take place in November, but only after negotiating teams from the three countries hold technical talks first.
In an interview with Alla Mazur, host of "TSN The Week" on Ukrainian television, Zelensky said Kyiv is prepared to discuss territorial questions only at the level of leaders. "The issue of territory is a red line that can only be discussed at the level of leaders," he said, according to the Kyiv Independent. "Other issues can be discussed at the level of technical groups."
Zelensky used the interview, broadcast by the Ukrainian channel TSN, to set out what Ukraine wants from any deal. Security guarantees, he said, cannot be written by Moscow. "Restrictions on our army and Ukraine's neutrality are not up for discussion," he said. The question of NATO's role will come up, and if membership is not on offer, Zelensky argued that European countries and Washington should extend the alliance's Article 5 defensive commitment to Ukraine.
He put a figure on the force he wants to keep after a settlement. "If I have enough finances, I want to keep the army of 800,000 people," he said, adding that the size would depend on who is willing to pay for it.
On the table for the November round, according to Zelensky: an energy ceasefire, a new arrangement to protect grain shipments through the Black Sea, and prisoner exchanges. "Energy, grain, and people," he said, describing them as the concrete items.
He also said that easing sanctions on Russia before the talks would leave Kyiv with fewer tools at the table, after the Trump administration waived sanctions on Russian oil exports in October. "I don't want us to be left without tools, without sanctions, without money, or without frozen assets, at the meeting with Putin," Zelensky said.
The Straits Times reported that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Oct. 23 that a trilateral meeting was planned for November in the United Arab Emirates. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met Zelensky and European leaders in Oslo on Oct. 20, then Putin the following day.
Separately, Zelensky said a planned ceasefire in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, where residents face shortages of food, water and electricity, would need to hold for several days and include Russian cooperation to let people leave. That truce is due to start on Oct. 27.