Ukraine and Russia both say ready to resume trilateral talks with US

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called Wednesday for freezing the front in his country’s war against Russia as a first step toward ceasefire talks.

“Right now we have to freeze, and I think this is (the) real way to end this war. We call it ceasefire... freeze and stop,” Zelensky said in an interview on “Fox and Friends”, when asked if he would accept a peace deal that freezes the front along its current lines after Russia’s invasion.

The comments came as US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin for talks on ending the war.

Read moreRussia announces release of US citizen Stephen Hubbard during Putin-Witkoff meeting

As Witkoff touched down in Saint Petersburg, Russia announced it would soon begin shipments of diesel to the United States under a deal with President Donald Trump, and that it had freed a US citizen held by Moscow since the start of the war.

'Don't speak about us without us, please'

Zelensky said any peace talks must include Ukraine.

“I always said that we are open to negotiate in any format, any topics. But don’t speak about us without us, please.”

Zelensky stressed that any peace deal must include security guarantees from partners including the United States and European allies.

Such guarantees would help ensure Ukrainians are not “afraid... that occupation will come back, aggression will come back, killings will come back”.

Zelensky spoke days after Kyiv accused Washington of deliberately slowing speeds on the SpaceX-operated Starshield communications system that’s crucial for its battlefield communications. Ukraine also uses SpaceX’s parallel Starlink civilian satellite system.

Read moreWhat is Starshield, SpaceX's military version of Starlink?

Starlink and Starshield services are “still limited”, Zelensky said. “But Secretary (of State Marco Rubio) told me that he will work with his team on this to unblock this.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that SpaceX owner Elon Musk had ordered the reduction in Starshield services.

The tech mogul had previously said any limits on the system would have come from Trump, a charge that the US president denied.