Witkoff and Kushner in Oslo rebuked Zelenskyy for his behaviour, which "infuriated" Trump, - NYT
US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, during a closed-door meeting in Oslo, rebuked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his sharp responses to Donald Trump’s criticism and stated that such behaviour had "infuriated" the American leader.
This was reported by The New York Times (NYT), citing a source, according to Censor.NET.
What happened during the closed-door meeting
According to the NYT, the conversation took place on Tuesday. Witkoff and Kushner told Zelenskyy that his behaviour had angered Trump. Zelenskyy, according to the publication’s source, occasionally contradicted the Americans when they raised objections to some of his statements.
"I never said that," the Ukrainian leader insisted at one point, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the conversation was private.
At the same time, the NYT notes, Zelenskyy apparently got the message. After the meeting, he was reserved in his comments to journalists, tried to give a positive assessment of the talks and did not repeat his recent criticism of Trump.
"We are grateful to the American side," said Zelenskyy, referring to the resumption of US intelligence assistance.
- According to the publication, Witkoff and Kushner long and at length denied any link between Trump’s recent shift towards Moscow and US domestic politics, in particular the upcoming mid-term elections.
- Kushner, who was unwell and did not travel to Oslo, joined the conversation via video link. Witkoff stayed in Oslo before travelling on to St Petersburg.
What happened behind closed doors in Oslo
Also present at the meeting were Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who hosted it, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. According to the NYT, they organised the meeting to get the peace talks back on track.
Both are staunch supporters of Ukraine and, like most European leaders, do not share Trump’s more conciliatory stance towards Russia. At the same time, they are trying to avoid provoking the US president any further.
"I’m happy that we were able to get together today to straighten out a few things and to agree that what matters now is to look ahead. There’s nothing to gain from digging into what was said yesterday or a week ago. We now really have to be focused on what lies ahead." Støre said.
Stubb expressed the hope that the mutual disputes with Washington would now come to an end: "Today was a success and tomorrow is a new day and hopefully we don’t do any backtracking."
Two European officials cited by the NYT said that Witkoff’s visit to Russia without a prior meeting with Zelenskyy would have looked extremely negative. According to them, the meeting in Oslo will not resolve fundamental issues, but there is no real alternative to American leadership.
- The White House did not immediately comment on the meeting. An American source close to the talks told the NYT that the participants had a frank but respectful conversation, which helped to ‘clear the air’.
- According to him, Zelenskyy’s public criticism of Trump may serve his short-term political goals, but ultimately undermines Ukraine’s long-term objective — ending the war.
