US Envoys Meet With Ukrainian Officials Over ‘Unified Proposal’; Zelensky Decries Trump’s ‘Unfair, Dishonest’ Deal With Putin

Update (2000ET): We can only imagine how cold those discussions were when the Ukrainian officials heard about Trump’s deal with Putin for the release of diesel stocks to the world.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not best pleased. He told Axios in a phone interview on Friday that President Trump’s decision to unilaterally lift sanctions on Russia and allow it to export diesel was “not fair and not honest.”

“You know, it looks like a happy birthday present for Putin. It looks absolutely terrible,” Zelensky said in frustration, referring to the Russian president’s birthday earlier this week.

Zelensky went on to describe the deal as “an investment in a war that must be ended.”

“Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit ​to the civilised world,” Zelenskiy wrote on the X social ⁠media platform.

“Russia ⁠will ‘repay’ the diesel with ⁠further ​terror and perfidy. Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an ​investment in a ⁠war that must be ended, not prolonged. What is needed is real de-escalation with Russia on a reciprocal basis,” Zelenskiy said.

Trump said in a post on social media that he had ⁠agreed in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia ⁠would immediately supply diesel to the US and global marketplace.

Trump said lower prices for Americans “is my Greatest Priority”.

As Timothy Frudd reported earlier for The Epoch Times, U.S. negotiators will meet with Ukrainian officials today and tomorrow in an effort to work toward a peace proposal to end the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

The meeting comes a month after U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Moscow and Kyiv to meet separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Both U.S. President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy have been pushing for an end to the war before winter.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the United States is continuing to try to facilitate a negotiated agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the war. He warned that the war, which started in February 2022, appeared to be at a “very dangerous” stalemate.

“Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet with Ukrainian officials tomorrow to discuss a new, unified proposal that is focused on all aspects of the conflict to try to end the war,” a senior administration official told The Epoch Times on Oct. 8.

“They will be joined by national security advisors from the E3 countries, as well as the European Union and NATO.”

Friday’s scheduled meeting between the Trump administration’s negotiators and Ukrainian officials was also confirmed by Zelenskyy on Oct. 8.

“Meetings are expected to take place over two days,” Zelenskyy told reporters Thursday, according to The Kyiv Independent. “And we are counting on a European team to join our negotiating group and the American negotiating group.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for additional comment and did not receive a response before publication time.

In a prior social media post on Oct. 5, Zelenskyy said Ukraine expected that the United States would be able to arrange a trilateral meeting between Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington this month.

Zelenskyy met with Trump on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 22. During a bilateral press conference, both leaders said it is important to end the war before the upcoming winter season.

Trump told reporters last month that he believed both Putin and Zelenskyy wanted to see the war ended and that the Russian president was willing to meet to discuss a peace deal with Ukraine. He also suggested that the war could be ended sooner than people think.

During a joint press conference with Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel on Thursday, Rubio warned that the war between Russia and Ukraine could escalate and become a “much broader and far more dangerous regional conflict” if a peace deal is not reached.

“It’s an extremely dangerous war because, frankly, right now it seems to be at a stalemate, and stalemates are very dangerous,” Rubio told reporters.

The secretary of state said that a stalemate is only resolved in two ways: with a negotiated peace settlement or with an escalation in the fighting.

“In the end, we do not believe that there is a military solution to this conflict, to this war. We think this war needs to end in a negotiated settlement, the sooner the better,” Rubio said. “The United States stands ready to facilitate that.”

He added that the United States wants to see a “permanent, enduring, and fair” negotiated settlement to end the conflict.

At least 30 people were killed on Thursday in a Russian strike on Kramatorsk, Ukraine, according to Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian president said a Russian bomb struck two city minibuses. An additional 18 people were injured in the strike.

The strike came after the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Russian air defenses had intercepted almost 900 Ukrainian drones overnight in multiple parts of the country on Oct. 6.