Zelensky: Trilateral talks postponed due to events surrounding Iran

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that, due to events surrounding Iran, trilateral talks between delegations from Ukraine, the US, and Russia, scheduled for this week, have been postponed at the American side's suggestion.

According to Ukrinform, the president announced this on Facebook.

“I held a meeting with our negotiating team. It is important that we are in communication with the American side virtually 24/7. 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. However, Ukraine is ready for a meeting at any moment, in a format that can help and that will be realistic in terms of ending the war,” the president stated.

He also said that during the meeting, the team reported on the Russian side's plans, which became known primarily through intelligence activities.

“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,” Zelensky said.

He emphasized that the Russians are now trying to manipulate the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region in favor of their aggression, as well as to turn the Iranian regime's strikes against its neighbors and American bases into a second front in Russia's war against Ukraine and, more broadly, the entire West. “Evil must not be given opportunities for coordination, but the protection of life must be clearly coordinated,” Zelensky noted.

As reported by Ukrinform, another round of trilateral talks took place in Geneva on February 16-17. Following the talks, Zelensky stated that progress had been made on military issues, namely monitoring the ceasefire, but that the parties' positions remained divided on political issues, including territory, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and other sensitive matters.

Photo: Office of the President