President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are set for a high-stakes meeting in New York as the war with Russia erupts into a new round of massive long-range attacks.
The meeting is expected Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. It follows a Sunday phone call that both sides are presenting as a serious push toward de-escalation.
Zelensky said the face-to-face talks “could change a lot.” More importantly, his chief negotiator says the disputes once blocking progress have now been narrowed to only one or two key issues.
Zelensky announced the meeting after speaking directly with President Trump.
I just spoke with President Trump. An important conversation, and we got through a lot. We agreed to meet in New York, and this meeting could change a lot. There is diplomatic momentum.
I thanked the President for the visit of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv. We went through the key details, and they saw the situation in Ukraine firsthand.
The peace track is our number-one priority. There are ideas for de-escalation steps and for addressing fundamental security issues – energy security, food security, and the protection of human life.
We are working together with the American team and are ready to take really serious steps. I thanked the American President for signing the Lindsey Graham bill into law. We all concur – there must be peace.
Thank you to everyone who is helping.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 20, 2026
The Office of the President of Ukraine confirmed that Zelensky thanked President Trump for sending Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv, where they reviewed the battlefield and negotiating situation firsthand.
The official statement said the two leaders discussed possible de-escalation steps involving energy security, food security and the protection of civilian life. Zelensky also thanked President Trump for signing the Russia sanctions package championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.
That combination matters. President Trump is entering the meeting with both diplomatic leverage and new economic pressure already in place.
The statement did not claim that a final agreement had been reached. It described the peace track as the top priority and said the Ukrainian side was prepared to take serious steps alongside the American team.
Axios reported that the White House is trying to secure reciprocal steps from Russia and Ukraine that could reduce attacks and restart negotiations. Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said the number of obstacles has fallen from dozens to essentially one or two unresolved issues.
Umerov also pushed back on reports that Kyiv had grown frustrated with Witkoff. He said the American team has remained focused on ending the war, obtaining security guarantees and finding a durable path forward.
The report said the meeting is expected Tuesday, several days after President Trump signed the new sanctions law and approved the largest U.S.-Ukraine arms agreement of his second term. Those moves answer two demands Kyiv had pressed for while peace discussions continued.
The immediate pressure point is energy.
Axios reported that President Trump repeatedly raised Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries during Sunday’s call because the strikes are adding pressure to global diesel prices.
Ukraine’s own account of the latest operation shows exactly why that issue is now central to the talks.
Our long-range responses had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night. One of Russia’s key oil industry facilities and the aggressor’s logistics facility were hit. These are billions of dollars that sustain the war machine. The systems used included FP-1, RZ-100, MICH-2000, Palianytsia, Vendetta, Liutyi, Bars, Flamingo, Sichen, and Pelican.
I thank our warriors for their accuracy: the Security Service of Ukraine together with the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Special Operations Forces, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, and the Foreign Intelligence Service. Sanctions were also imposed on a facility in the Voronezh region.
Moscow must end its brutal war and choose peace instead of building layered rings of air defense at the expense of other regions. Steps toward de-escalation are on the table – in energy and food security.
What is needed is political will. I thank everyone who is strengthening Ukraine’s long-range capabilities. I am grateful to everyone who complements our long-range responses with responses through sanctions.
Glory to Ukraine!
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 20, 2026
Fox News reported that Ukraine sent more than 1,000 drones and a barrage of missiles toward Russia overnight. Moscow called it the largest drone attack of the war, with hundreds of aircraft directed toward the capital and damage reported at the Moscow Oil Refinery.
Russian officials said two people were killed and 20 were wounded in the wider Moscow region. Ukraine said the operation targeted oil and logistics facilities that help finance and supply Russia’s war machine.
The escalation was not one-sided.
Russian strikes killed a mother and three children in the Kyiv region over the weekend. Another Russian drone attack hit a monastery in the Kherson region, killing a member of the clergy and wounding four others.
Zelensky’s tally of Russia’s attacks over the past week explains why any agreement will need more than a ceremonial handshake.
Every day and every night, we defend ourselves against Russian strikes. Yesterday, in the Kherson region, the Russians struck a monastery with an FPV drone. Tragically, one member of the monastery clergy was killed and four others were wounded. My condolences to the family and loved ones. There were strikes on critical and civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Odesa regions.
In the Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia regions, residential buildings were hit. Since the evening, the Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Cherkasy regions have also come under attack. This week alone, Russia has launched more than 2,000 attack drones against us, most of them jet-powered, as well as 1,700 aerial bombs and 19 missiles of various types. Ukraine is constantly looking for and finding ways to defend itself and respond to these attacks on life.
It is important that our partners also look for and find ways to make Russia feel its war. Now is the right moment to take new sanctions steps against the aggressor and force peace through strength. The United States has the means to do this, Europe has them, and so does every G7 country. We are counting on new, strong steps.
Thank you to everyone who is helping.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 20, 2026
President Trump’s challenge is to turn that battlefield pressure into enforceable concessions from both sides.
The latest sanctions law and the largest U.S.-Ukraine arms agreement of his second term give him more leverage than he had during earlier rounds. But the refinery strikes, civilian deaths and accelerating drone war also make the cost of failure much higher.
If negotiators truly have reduced the dispute to only one or two issues, Tuesday’s meeting could be the most consequential opening in months.
President Trump has repeatedly said the killing must stop. In New York, he will have a chance to test whether the remaining gap can finally be closed—or whether Moscow and Kyiv are still prepared to keep escalating.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
