The Ukrainian ambassador to the United States held what she said was a “thorough discussion” with U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, who has been tasked with finding a resolution to the war in Ukraine.
The meeting on February 6 between Oksana Markarova and Kellogg took place after Kellogg rejected a report that he would present a peace plan for Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference next week.
Markarova said it was her first meeting with Kellogg since his appointment, though the two had met before.
"We held a thorough discussion with the special envoy and his team and my colleagues," Markarova said on Facebook.
Ukraine has been trying to establish close relations with the new administration under Trump, who has said he wants to bring a quick end to the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on February 5 in his nightly video address that Ukraine had been "significantly intensifying" its contacts with the Trump administration, adding that it also has had "quite meaningful contacts with other partners."
Zelenskyy, who will lead Ukraine’s delegation at the Munich Security Conference, said on February 6 that he is certain that there is no official U.S. plan yet, suggesting that any formal plan should be coordinated with Kyiv.
Andriy Yermak, chief of Zelenskyy's office, said the Ukrainian delegation would present the country’s position on ending the war and their views on how “a long and lasting peace” can be achieved.
“It’s necessary that the leaders and the experts in politics who will be in Munich realize that this is momentum,” he told the AP. “That we are very near to really ending this war by a just and lasting peace, but (it’s) necessary to be together [and not give] Russia an opportunity to divide the world, to divide partners.”
Zelenskyy has voiced confidence that Trump can pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into ending the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. He also has said Trump knows Ukraine’s positions, including the things on which there can be no concessions.
Kellogg said last week that Trump has a “solid” strategy to end the war within months. But Trump himself has said little since his inauguration about how he will seek to settle the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin announced on February 5 an increase in contacts with the United States regarding the push to seek a resolution of the war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was ready to negotiate with Zelenskyy despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's refusal to hold talks with him because his term expired last year.
Zelenskyy has dismissed that notion, saying no election can be held while martial law remains in place.
Kellogg said on February 5 on the conservative U.S. broadcaster Newsmax that Ukraine would reach a point when it would have to hold and election.
"The sign of a healthy democracy is the willingness and the ability to have an election, even in the time of war," he said.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on February 6 quoted senior Russian parliamentarian Leonid Slutsky as saying preparations for a meeting between Putin and Trump were at an "advanced stage."
Slutsky, head of the State Duma's international affairs committee, said the meeting could take place in February or March.
"It will be about Ukraine, the Middle East and, more generally, issues of world politics and international relations in the near future. I am sure that this meeting will be a milestone," Slutsky said.