Budanov
Kyrylo Budanov is a Ukrainian military intelligence officer who has served as head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine since 2020. He is one of the senior figures in Ukraine's military intelligence apparatus and a frequent public commentator on security and battlefield developments.
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Ukraine says ready for US-mediated trilateral with Russia; Zelensky names UAE as proposed venue
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on September 25 that the United States has proposed a trilateral meeting with Ukraine and Russia at the technical level, with the United Arab Emirates suggested as the venue. Ukraine is waiting for Washington to propose a date. The Kremlin confirmed contacts are underway. Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said Ukraine is ready for the format but saw no signals of Russian willingness to engage.
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Zelensky declares Ukraine ready for energy, grain and maritime ceasefires as Russia rejects energy proposal
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on 22 September 2026, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met US President Donald Trump and announced Ukraine is ready for reciprocal ceasefires in energy, grain and maritime domains. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on 23 September that both sides expressed interest in a limited ceasefire, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the energy proposal and Russia's Vladimir Putin again insisted on maximalist war aims. The prospect of a trilateral meeting was left to the G20 summit in Miami on 14–15 December, where Putin's participation remains disputed.
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Rubio says no Ukraine-Russia energy ceasefire yet, but both sides interested in limited deal
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there is currently no energy ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia, but that both sides have expressed interest in a limited ceasefire covering energy and grain. Speaking after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Rubio said the war would end through negotiations rather than a decisive military victory, and that US President Donald Trump remains ready to mediate. The comments come a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Trump in New York with energy ceasefire among the main topics.
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Rubio to meet Lavrov in New York on Wednesday during UN General Assembly
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York on Wednesday, September 23, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session. The meeting comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky met President Donald Trump in New York, and against statements from both Moscow and Washington suggesting no ceasefire is currently in place.
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Zelensky and Trump meet in New York: energy ceasefire, Patriot production and a push to end the war before winter
On September 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York. Zelensky proposed a mutual energy ceasefire, raised licensing of Patriot interceptor missile production in Ukraine, and said he is ready to meet Vladimir Putin with Trump's help. Trump said the war will end "sooner than people realize" and warned he is ready to use the newly-signed "Graham law" sanctions against Russia.
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EU Coreper fails to extend Russia sanctions as Slovakia and France push to delist oligarchs
EU ambassadors meeting on 21 September failed to reach consensus on extending the bloc's individual sanctions regime against Russia, which covers roughly 3,000 individuals and entities including Vladimir Putin. Slovakia and France insisted on delisting sanctioned oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman; a compromise deal that would have extended the regime for 36 months in exchange for delisting them collapsed after Latvia blocked it. Coreper scheduled a further meeting for the morning of 22 September, hours before the midnight deadline at which the entire regime would lapse without unanimous renewal. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha publicly called any delisting unacceptable and a wrong signal to Moscow.
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Zelensky and Trump agree to meet in New York after phone call; Trump presses on Russian oil strikes
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone call with US President Donald Trump on the evening of 20 September, during which the two leaders agreed to a personal meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Zelensky publicly framed the call as constructive, thanked Trump for the recent visit of US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv, and for signing the Lindsey Graham sanctions law against Russia. According to Axios sources, Trump repeatedly asked Zelensky to stop Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, citing rising global diesel prices.
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Zelenskyy's trust rating holds at 54% despite corruption scandals, KIIS poll finds
A poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology conducted from 21 August to 10 September shows that 54% of Ukrainians trust President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, virtually unchanged from late July/early August. The result comes amid recent NABU and SAP anti-corruption investigations linked to his office, and KIIS's executive director warned that the cumulative effect of such cases could become irreversible.
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Ukraine's parliament votes 317-0 to dismiss Prosecutor General Kravchenko
On 15 September 2026, the Verkhovna Rada voted unanimously, 317 to 0, to dismiss Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, and President Volodymyr Zelensky signed decree No. 932/2026 formalizing the dismissal. The vote came a day after Zelensky suspended Kravchenko from the post under Ukraine's martial law provisions and after Kravchenko left Ukraine overnight claiming to be on an official business trip abroad. Kravchenko's removal follows a public confrontation with the country's independent anti-corruption bodies over the NABU/SAP "Carthage" operation and his announcement of a suspicion notice against NABU director Semen Kryvonos.
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Zelensky says he may meet Trump in New York to push for energy and Black Sea ceasefire
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a telethon interview aired on September 14 that he may meet US President Donald Trump in New York on September 21–23 during the UN General Assembly high-level week. The talks would focus on an energy ceasefire and a pause in mutual strikes on the Black Sea ahead of winter, with Zelensky saying Ukraine is open to a maritime-plus-energy ceasefire even if Russia will not agree to a full end to the war.
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Ukraine’s Prosecutor General announces suspicion against NABU director, then leaves the country; Zelensky moves to dismiss him
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who had resigned a week earlier amid the NABU/SAPO “Carthage” operation against his own office, announced on 14 September that he had signed a notice of suspicion against NABU director Semen Kryvonos. The same night he left Ukraine. President Zelensky publicly called for his immediate dismissal, submitted the motion to the Verkhovna Rada, and signed a decree suspending him under martial-law provisions. The European Commission said it was aware of the events and stressed that independent anti-corruption bodies are a cornerstone of the rule of law in Ukraine.
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Kushner says most of Ukraine–Russia peace deal is ready, with territorial question the last obstacle
US special envoy Jared Kushner told the Yalta European Strategy forum in Kyiv on September 12 that most of a Ukraine–Russia peace agreement has been prepared, and that the territorial question — Ukraine's refusal to withdraw to the line Russia is demanding — is the remaining obstacle. He said he hopes to announce "next steps" in the talks within the next two weeks and expressed support for returning to a trilateral format. Kyiv has previously rejected Putin's demands that Ukrainian forces withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
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Budanov: new round of Ukraine–US–Russia peace talks being prepared for October
Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said on September 12 that a new round of trilateral Ukraine–US–Russia peace talks is being prepared for October. He confirmed the trilateral format but did not disclose a possible venue, and said Ukraine is preparing for an October meeting. The statement came on the sidelines of the YES conference in Kyiv.
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Trump–Putin call fuels peace hopes as Ukraine reports $27bn shortfall and deep drone strike hits Russia
US President Donald Trump said after a phone call with Vladimir Putin on 8 September that Putin wants a deal to end the war, raising the prospect of bilateral or trilateral leader-level meetings. US, Ukrainian and European officials publicly doubted Putin's seriousness, while Ukraine disclosed it needs an additional $27 billion to get through the year. The diplomatic activity coincided with a Ukrainian drone strike on a facility in Russia's Yamal region, described by Kyiv as its deepest inside Russia since 2022, and Russian attacks on multiple Ukrainian regions that killed at least six people.
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Ukraine's Prosecutor General Kravchenko resigns after NABU searches expose alleged call-centre protection scheme
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko submitted his resignation on the evening of 7 September after anti-corruption investigators searched the Office of the Prosecutor General and exposed an alleged scheme to protect fraudulent call centres. The 'Carthage' operation by NABU and SAPO has led to the detention of several suspects, including Serhiy Kropyva, a deputy head of an OGP department, with bail set at 120 million hryvnia. President Zelensky said the resignation would be sent to the Verkhovna Rada.
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Ukraine military intelligence chief calls Kyiv SBU–HUR shooting "unacceptable," denies "war between special services"
Head of Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) Oleh Ivashchenko publicly commented on the September 2 shooting between SBU and HUR personnel in Kyiv, calling it an "unacceptable incident" and rejecting suggestions of a "war between special services." The shooting occurred in the Berezniaky district during investigative actions linked to Russian Volunteer Corps deputy commander Stepan Kaplunov. The SBU and HUR have given competing accounts of the incident, and the State Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Prosecutor General have opened pretrial investigations.
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US envoys visit Kyiv for first time, signal return to trilateral talks but report no breakthrough
US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Kyiv on 6 September 2026 for their first visit to Ukraine since Donald Trump's second presidential term began, after meeting Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 5 September. They held three rounds of talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, joined in the second round by national security advisers from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and announced a planned return to the US–Ukraine–Russia trilateral format and US support for a 'winter package' of assistance for Ukraine. Zelensky reported receiving a message that 'the Russians are ready to negotiate' but remained sceptical, while the Kremlin, Bloomberg sources and the Institute for the Study of War said the Moscow talks produced no substantive concessions.
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Trump's envoys Witkoff and Kushner to visit Moscow and Kyiv this weekend carrying war-ending proposal
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on the evening of September 4 that US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Moscow on Saturday September 5 and then to Kyiv on Sunday September 6, carrying a proposal to end the war. Zelensky said Ukraine would ensure the normal functioning of Russian airspace and refrain from strikes during the visit, and called on Russia to reciprocate with silence. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House the same day that the envoys are bringing a peace proposal and described the mission as having a good chance of success.
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Budanov reveals years of back-channel contacts with Russia's GRU chief and Prigozhin, advises Zelensky against Donbas concessions
Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with The New York Times published on 4 September that he maintained long-running contacts with Russian military intelligence chief Admiral Igor Kostyukov and the late Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. He advised President Volodymyr Zelensky not to accept any compromise on Donbas that would give Russia formal control over territory its military failed to seize on the battlefield.
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HUR warns of disinformation campaign targeting military intelligence amid SBU clash
Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) said on 3 September that a targeted disinformation campaign is being deployed to discredit military intelligence and its combat units, urging the public to trust only verified official sources and asking journalists to report any paid offers of dubious material. The warning came against the backdrop of an armed confrontation between HUR and the SBU in Kyiv on 2 September tied to the detention of Russian Volunteer Corps deputy commander Stepan Kaplunov, and was followed by President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissing an SBU department head and calling the SBU–HUR clash "shameful."