- 'We hope for US leadership, as it is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its unreasonable ambitions are curbed through strength,' says Zelenskyy

ISTANBUL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday held talks with US special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, who arrived in the country's capital Kyiv earlier in the day on a visit.

"We discussed the path to peace and what we can practically do together to bring it closer," Zelenskyy wrote on X, describing his meeting with Kellogg as "productive."

The discussion included talks on strengthening Ukraine’s air defense and joint production, as well as defense procurement in collaboration with Europe and sanctions against Russia and its allies, Zelenskyy said.

"We hope for US leadership, as it is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its unreasonable ambitions are curbed through strength," he added.

In a video of their meeting shared with the statement, Zelenskyy conveyed Kyiv's gratitude to US President Donald Trump for "all messages and really strong decisions" on resuming US military deliveries to Ukraine.

Kellogg arrived in Kyiv earlier Monday, where he was greeted by Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, as Trump announced a day earlier that the US will send an unspecified number of Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine, and expressed dissatisfaction with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

“Putin really surprised a lot of people,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday, adding: “He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening, but there's a little bit of a problem there: I don't like it.”