Zelensky meets US envoy Witkoff as US-Ukraine ties sink to new lows

Summary

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday in an attempt to rescue relations between Kyiv and Washington, which France 24 reports have sunk to new lows as President Donald Trump has courted Moscow and Kyiv has complained about Washington withholding vital defences. NBC News reports that U.S. envoys met Zelenskyy in Norway as Kyiv scrambled to respond to an American pressure campaign, and that Zelenskyy said intelligence sharing with the U.S. "works now". PBS News Hour reports that Zelenskyy met Witkoff and European officials in Norway to avoid a further diplomatic rupture with Trump, who had criticized him over Ukraine's efforts to inflict heavy losses on Russia, and that the meeting aimed to ease tensions ahead of Witkoff's planned meeting with Vladimir Putin in Russia.

Timeline

1. France 24

   20 Oct 2026, 19:06 UTCSource ↗

   Reports that Zelensky met US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday in a bid to rescue US-Ukraine relations, which have sunk to new lows as Trump has courted Moscow and Kyiv has complained about Washington withholding vital defences.

2. NBC News

   20 Oct 2026, 19:33 UTCSource ↗

   Reports that U.S. envoys met Zelenskyy in Norway as Kyiv scrambled to respond to an American pressure campaign allied with moves aimed at courting the Kremlin, and that Zelenskyy said intelligence sharing with the U.S. "works now".

3. PBS News Hour

   20 Oct 2026, 22:55 UTCSource ↗

   Reports that Zelenskyy met U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and European officials in Norway to avoid a further diplomatic rupture with Trump, who has criticized him over Ukraine's efforts to inflict heavy losses on Russia, ahead of Witkoff's meeting with Putin.