Ukraine's Zelenskyy says next round of US-brokered trilateral peace talks with Russia postponed

ISTANBUL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that peace talks with Russia planned for this week have been postponed at the request of the US amid the armed conflict in Iran.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready for the meeting “at any moment, in a format that can help and that will be realistic in terms of ending the war.”

“At the moment, the partners’ priority and all attention are focused on the situation around Iran, and because of this, the meeting that had been planned for this week is being postponed at the proposal of the American side,” Zelenskyy said on the US social media company X’s platform.

After holding a meeting with the Ukrainian negotiating team, he said Kyiv is in contact with the American side “virtually 24/7.”

“I instructed the team to once again communicate with the American negotiators in order, first, to reiterate our readiness for strategic joint work for security and, in particular, protection against strike drones, and second, to once again confirm our readiness to work substantively toward ending Russia’s war against Ukraine,” he said.

Zelenskyy also accused Russia of trying to “manipulate” tensions in the Middle East and the Gulf region to benefit its war effort, saying it must not be allowed.

Russia, Ukraine and the US previously held three rounds of peace talks on Jan. 23-24, Feb. 4-5 and Feb. 17-18, the first two of which were held in the United Arab Emirates’ capital Abu Dhabi. The third round took place in Geneva, Switzerland.