Witkoff and Kushner Hold 'Substantive' Kyiv Talks With Zelensky; Zelensky Rejects Territorial Concessions

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv on September 6 for their first direct talks with President Zelensky, a day after meeting Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Zelensky and senior advisers met the envoys twice, with UK, French and German national security advisers joining a third session. Zelensky said the US had floated Ukraine withdrawing from unoccupied parts of Donetsk Oblast to create a demilitarized 'free economic zone,' a proposal he called unworkable, and said he was open to dropping Ukraine's NATO membership bid in exchange for binding Western security guarantees but rejected ceding territory to Russia. Witkoff called the discussions 'substantive' and 'important,' while Zelensky said afterward that the war would likely 'continue in winter' absent a breakthrough.