Kushner names territorial question as the main obstacle in Ukraine–Russia talks, eyes trilateral meeting

Why it matters

The statement puts the US mediator's public weight behind identifying the territorial question as the central obstacle in the Ukraine–Russia peace process. It also signals Washington's preferred next step — a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the US and Russia — while making explicit the gap between the Kremlin's demand to hand over the entire Donbas and Ukraine's refusal. Together with an updated readout of the September 5–6 Moscow and Kyiv visits, it provides the most current public picture of where the negotiations stand.

What happened

Speaking by video link at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) annual meeting in Kyiv on September 11, US special envoy Jared Kushner said the territorial question is the most difficult unresolved issue in Ukraine–Russia peace talks. He said the Kremlin demands that Ukraine hand over the entire Donbas to Russian control and that Ukrainian authorities refuse to comply, and he noted that the situation on the battlefield is "very dynamic." Kushner added that if Ukraine were to withdraw to the line outlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin, "the rest of the deal would essentially be in our hands," but that Ukraine does not currently want to do so.

Kushner and fellow US envoy Steve Witkoff had visited Moscow on September 5 and Kyiv on September 6, meeting with Putin in a conversation that lasted more than three hours and holding three rounds of talks in Kyiv — two bilateral rounds and one multilateral round that included national security advisors from the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Kushner described those trips as "very successful" and said they generated new ideas to be discussed at a forthcoming trilateral meeting, which the US is working to organize. He framed direct talks among all sides as more productive than shuttle diplomacy when a concrete result is the goal, while adding that shuttle diplomacy combined with direct negotiations can also be effective. He said the US is trying to avoid "showcase diplomacy" and focus on what can actually move the result forward, and expressed hope that next steps could be announced within a few weeks.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

Ukrainian sources lead with Kushner's identification of the territorial question as the main obstacle and pair it with the Kremlin's demand for the entire Donbas and Ukraine's refusal. Coverage is anchored in Kyiv-based events: the YES forum and the September 6 rounds of negotiations in Kyiv that included national security advisors from the United Kingdom, Germany and France. It includes President Volodymyr Zelensky's framing that the Donbas question is really about Russia's war of attrition against Ukraine as a whole, as well as Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Budanov's statement that Ukraine is preparing for a new round of peace talks, possibly in October, in trilateral format with the US and Russia.

Where reporting differs

Sources disagree on the timing of a possible new trilateral round: one article refers to it as October 2026, while another refers to it simply as October without specifying the year.

Background

US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff visited Moscow on September 5 and Kyiv on September 6, 2025, holding three rounds of talks in Kyiv that included national security advisors from the United Kingdom, Germany and France. The Kremlin demands that Ukraine hand over the entire Donbas to Russian control; the Ukrainian authorities refuse, and analysts at the Institute for the Study of War say Russian demands extend beyond Donbas. The Yalta European Strategy (YES) annual meeting, organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, took place in Kyiv on September 11–12 with about 700 participants from 28 countries.