Zelenskyy-Trump Meeting in the Works at UN as Energy Strikes Dominate
Ukrainian and American diplomats are working to arrange a "meaningful" meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump during the 81st U.N. General Assembly session in New York next week. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said teams on both sides are actively preparing the encounter, according to Al Jazeera. The meeting would follow their last talks at the White House in July.
Tykhyi said at a press briefing that Zelenskyy's visit will include dozens of bilateral meetings, meaning direct talks between two countries, plus meetings with U.S. lawmakers, business leaders and the Ukrainian community in the U.S., according to Al Jazeera. Zelenskyy has said he expects to meet Trump in the second half of September, according to Eurointegration. The White House had said Trump and Zelenskyy would meet in Washington the week after July 24, 2026, according to Reuters.
The expected agenda centers on long-range strikes against energy sites. Trump urged Zelenskyy to stop attacks on Russian diesel facilities, saying those attacks, not the war with Iran, were behind a global fuel shortage and higher prices. Trump said the increase in the price of diesel "isn't done by the Middle East, this is done by what's happening with Russia and Ukraine". Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready to halt its attacks on Russian territory if the U.S. can secure a promise from Moscow not to strike Ukrainian infrastructure, according to Al Jazeera.
The diplomacy continues while civilians are still being harmed inside Ukraine. A Russian drone strike on a bus killed at least five people and injured seven others in Nikopol, near the front line in southern Ukraine. At least 1,396 civilians were killed and 7,978 wounded in Ukraine during the first six months of 2026, according to the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. The mission said civilian casualties in the first half of 2026 were 37 percent higher than in the same period the year before.
The high-level week of the General Assembly, the annual September gathering where leaders speak and meet, has served as an extra meeting track for Kyiv, much like side rooms at a large conference. At the 80th session in New York, the Ukrainian delegation held over 40 meetings with partners in various formats, according to the Presidency of Ukraine.
Looking at what this means for the weeks ahead, the sequence matters. A conditional halt offer, mutual limits on infrastructure strikes, and a sideline meeting between presidents create a narrow window for talks. Washington would need to test whether Moscow will accept limits on strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure. Kyiv would need to weigh the military value of deep strikes on diesel and refining targets against the political cost in Washington. Neither position has been locked in. The idea remains an offer that depends on U.S. mediation and Russian compliance.
The broader context here is the use of New York for business that cannot easily be done in Washington, Kyiv or Moscow. Sideline meetings allow short, controlled encounters without the formal protocol of a state visit. They also let both presidents consult other delegations in the same building. For Ukraine, dozens of bilaterals and meetings with lawmakers and business leaders offer channels on aid, sanctions enforcement and money for rebuilding. For the U.S. administration, linking Ukrainian strike policy to global diesel prices moves the discussion from battlefield effects to energy-market management. Whether that link leads to mutual restraint or new friction will depend on what, if anything, is put on paper next week.
