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WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky touted “positive signals” from a phone call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and an Oslo, Norway, summit with US special envoys, as President Trump said “it’s time” to reach a peace deal to end the more than four-year war with Russia.
Tuesday’s talks centered on points in a proposal that will be presented to Russia the following day, laying out a framework for peace with Ukraine, security guarantees and “a broader European security architecture,” which could involve Ukraine joining the EU, as well as post-war plans for financial recovery, according to US officials and leaders who participated.
“We began early in the morning on the way to Oslo, and in the train, I had a conversation with Secretary Rubio and we spoke about sensitive issues like connection, Starlink, about interceptors, which are very important, about intelligence,” Zelensky told reporters on the sidelines of the summit Tuesday.
In the meeting with Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European officials, NATO officials and US special envoy Steve Witkoff, the Ukrainian leader added he had received assurances that his country would be given “strong” security guarantees.
Witkoff will share those in a “document” with Russian negotiators on Wednesday, Zelensky said.
“Ukraine brought forward new ideas and proposals, which were discussed in detail,” noted one US official. “The parties made meaningful progress in aligning on a coordinated approach to engaging Russia and advancing the diplomatic process.”
US special envoy Jared Kushner also joined the talks remotely and will participate in the Russia talks on Wednesday virutally.
A US official told The Post earlier Tuesday that the envoys hoped to present a proposal to Russia that would define “new and enduring security architecture between Russia and Europe” and open up “postwar economic cooperation.”
In the background, Witkoff will also be seeking the release of 72-year-old American citizen Stephen Hubbard from a Moscow prison, the official said.
“These discussions remain fluid, and substantial work remains. President Trump’s objective is clear: to end the killing, bring the war to a close, and establish the conditions for a lasting peace that benefits Ukraine, Russia, Europe, and the United States,” the official added.
Earlier this month, Witkoff and Kushner met with Ukrainian mediators in Florida that centered on Kyiv’s requests for security guarantees from the US and Europe, future accession into the EU and a postwar financial plan for Zelensky’s war-torn country, according to one source familiar with the talks.
The source noted that providing economic security for the warring countries will make it easier to discuss contested territories.
Trump’s relationship with Zelensky has hit another low point in the war after Ukraine experienced interruptions in Starshield, satellite internet services powered by SpaceX and authorized by the US government, leading to a round of finger-pointing in Washington over who was responsible.
Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials claimed that their country’s access to the Starshield satellite internet network was seemingly throttled from speeds above 100 miles per hour, preventing their military from carrying out drone operations.
Trump, administration officials and SpaceX boss Elon Musk have all denied a deliberate slowdown, as well as any disruptions in US intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
Rubio told reporters on Tuesday that the lack of US intelligence to thwart Russian attacks “was not the result of any sort of US directive not to provide advance warning of a strike, and we are providing the same warnings to them now that we always have.”
“We’ve given a lot to Ukraine,” Trump also said Tuesday. “We’ve gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss. We’ve given incredible amounts of equipment and military, primarily military equipment, but equipment of all kinds. And it’s time.”
“We’ve got nothing back, and the American taxpayers are tired of it. We want Zelensky to make a deal. He can make a deal,” the president added. “He could have made a deal two years ago when we had our little chat in the Oval Office. We had a now quite well remembered chat with JD, myself, some others. Zelensky could have made a good deal then. Could have made a much better deal then.”
An energy cease-fire that Trump announced between President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky is already broken, as Ukraine’s president resumed striking Russian oil refineries in retaliation for Russian attacks.
Trump also suggested a three-way meeting with Russia, the US and China — excluding Ukraine.
“We are ready not to hit sensitive parts of Russia’s energy sector if Russia stops hitting ours. Putin said no. But we’re working to find a solution,” Zelensky posted later Tuesday on X.
“We have some clear ideas on how to get to peace. And we are united with our European partners in this effort, and we want the Americans to take these ideas to the Russians,” he said. “One of the important ideas is to move to a potential trilateral meeting of the leaders to address the issues that only the leaders can do.”