Zelenskyy says Trump agreed to meet him in New York this week

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump by phone and that the two leaders agreed to meet in New York this week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, a development that came just days after such a meeting appeared uncertain.globalbankingandfinance+2

"We agreed to meet in New York, and this meeting could change a lot. There is diplomatic momentum," Zelenskyy wrote on X following the call.abcnews

A Meeting in Doubt Until Sunday

The agreement marked a turnaround from earlier in the weekend, when Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reported that Zelenskyy was not among the leaders with whom Trump planned bilateral meetings during his visit to New York, scheduled for September 21-22. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz had outlined a schedule that included meetings with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, and Gulf Cooperation Council leaders — but not Zelenskyy.pravda

Two senior Ukrainian officials told Suspilne as of September 19 that a bilateral meeting had not been confirmed. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry had said earlier in the week that diplomatic teams were "actively" working to arrange the sit-down.aljazeera+1

Sanctions and Envoy Visits

In his post, Zelenskyy thanked Trump for signing into law the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, a sweeping sanctions package targeting Russian officials, banks, and energy exports. Trump signed the bill on Friday after it passed the House 262-159 and the Senate 86-11. The legislation, named for the late Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, authorizes tariffs of up to 100 percent on the five largest importers of Russian oil and natural gas.nypost+3

Zelenskyy also thanked Trump for dispatching envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv earlier this month, according to Bloomberg.bloomberg

De-escalation on the Agenda

Zelenskyy said there are "ideas for de-escalation steps and for addressing fundamental security issues — energy security, food security, and the protection of human life," adding that "the peace track is our number-one priority." The meeting comes more than four and a half years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and as the White House works to broker reciprocal steps toward resumed negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, according to Axios.newsukraine.rbc+2