Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, met in New York with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, according to Yermak's post on X.
"The key priority is to push forward real diplomacy and ensure the implementation of all the agreements reached at the Washington summit. We are coordinating our efforts.
At the start of the meeting, I briefed Steve Witkoff on the war crimes Russia commits daily against our cities and communities in Ukraine. In particular, I spoke about the massive missile-and-drone attack on Kyiv that claimed the lives of 23 people, including four children,'' he posted.
"We are open to direct negotiations at the leaders’ level and ready to discuss the broadest spectrum of issues. We believe that global pressure is needed to ensure Russia is genuinely ready to move toward peace and, in particular, to hold critically important leaders’ meetings for that purpose.''
Yermak noted that Russia is not taking any of the steps that could end the war and is, on the contrary, prolonging it.
"Ukraine welcomes all peace initiatives put forward by the United States. But unfortunately, each of them is being stalled by Russia. We are open to direct negotiations at the leaders’ level and ready to discuss the broadest spectrum of issues. We believe that global pressure is needed to ensure Russia is genuinely ready to move toward peace and, in particular, to hold critically important leaders’ meetings for that purpose."
Yermak added that he had invited Witkoff to come to Ukraine in the near future.
