Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv is ready to negotiate under a U.S.-led track after President Trump held new Russia sanctions, while still demanding harder pressure on Moscow.

On Saturday, Zelensky posted that the American negotiating track will continue and that Ukraine expects Washington to squeeze Russian President Vladimir Putin, not Kyiv. He said his country is ready to negotiate anywhere and in any format with the United States.

The Hill reported the comments came after Trump signed an executive order Friday evening holding sanctions that had been set to hit Russia under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The order said the hold served “the national interests of the United States,” without spelling out further reasons.

Zelensky framed peace as the goal. He also made clear he wants leverage kept on the aggressor.

"The American negotiating track will continue. We’re counting on them to put more pressure on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, not on us. Otherwise, it’s simply unfair."

Trump holds the sanctions hammer as talks reopen

The legislative package was built to put financial pressure on Russia and push Moscow to wind down its war against Ukraine. Trump’s Friday order paused that step days before it was due to take effect.

Last week the administration also eased sanctions on Russian diesel as fuel costs rose in the United States and abroad. That sequence sits against midterm elections less than three weeks away and public strain over affordability.

Top U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff traveled last month to Russia and Ukraine to meet each country’s leader and try to restart talks. Zelensky said the American side has now signaled a meeting with Ukraine could happen next week.

"What matters is peace. The American side has given us a signal that our meeting with them can happen next week."

He added that Washington was working on a trilateral session with Putin, but said neither Russia nor the United States had confirmed it yet. One possible venue he named was the G20 summit in Miami in December. He also said a meeting could land in a European country if contacts there move first.

Zelensky wants talks and more pressure at the same time

Earlier Saturday morning, Zelensky warned that easing pressure would backfire. He tied a sanctions “blackout,” lighter pressure on the aggressor, and financial relief for Putin to continued attacks and a Russian drive to darken Ukraine’s energy grid.

"Pressure is needed to stop this. A U.S. sanctions blackout, easing pressure on the aggressor, financial rewards for Putin, all of this only encourages him to keep attacking. We must not give up ground."

That message sits beside his later openness to a U.S.-led track. Kyiv wants a seat at the table. It also wants the United States to keep the squeeze on Moscow while talks proceed.

President Trump has described the same shift from the American side. Fox News reported Trump saying Zelenskyy is ready to negotiate a deal to end the war and would like to stop the fighting after heavy losses. Trump has also pointed to Putin’s interest in a meeting and possible compromise.

"Yes, he’s ready to negotiate a deal. He’d like to stop this."

Energy truce talk and face-to-face signals

Separate reporting has tracked Zelensky’s willingness to sit with Putin directly in U.S.-led discussions and to move fast toward ending the war. Just the News reported that after meeting Trump around the U.N. General Assembly, Zelensky said he was ready anytime to speak and negotiate, and that Ukraine had given a clear “yes” while Russia had not answered the same way.

Those talks also covered an energy ceasefire. Zelensky said Ukraine would hold off on strikes against Russian diesel and refineries if Russia stopped hitting Ukraine’s energy, electricity, heating, and water systems. That tracks with broader White House focus on energy costs and the fighting’s spillover into global fuel markets, including earlier moves when Trump ordered a halt to strikes on Russian diesel refineries as U.S. pump prices climbed.

American households have felt the war in their energy bills. Trump has tied higher prices to the Ukraine-Russia fight and used that pressure to push both sides toward restraint on energy targets, a theme also covered when he pinned rising fuel costs on the conflict rather than other flashpoints.

Prior readiness pledges under Trump’s lead

Zelensky has voiced readiness for fast talks before. Breitbart reported his public statement that Ukraine was ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible and work under Trump’s leadership for a lasting peace, along with regret over a difficult White House meeting and a pledge to sign a minerals and security agreement as a step toward guarantees.

The through-line is consistent with this weekend’s posts: Kyiv says it wants peace, will show up for U.S.-brokered formats, and still asks Washington to keep heat on Putin. The new piece is the sanctions hold itself, a concrete pause on a sweeping pressure bill named for Sen. Lindsey Graham and aimed at Russia’s war machine.

Congress wrote that package to raise the cost of Russia’s campaign. Trump’s order now holds the tool while envoys test whether diplomacy can move. Readers following the sanctions track will also recall when Trump enacted a Russia sanctions package with steep tariffs as part of the same leverage set.

What remains unsettled

No confirmation has come from Russia or the United States on a trilateral meeting. Zelensky’s “next week” signal is his account of an American message, not a joint schedule. The White House had not answered The Hill’s request for comment in that report.

The war remains yearslong. Strikes on energy infrastructure continue as background strain on supply. U.S. voters are weeks from midterms with fuel costs still in the headlines. Against that backdrop, the administration has paired sanctions flexibility with direct envoy diplomacy and public pressure on both capitals to stop the bleeding.

Related coverage has followed the same pressure campaign when Trump pressed Ukraine to stop hitting Russian refineries as diesel prices spiked, and when an energy ceasefire push followed a sharp clash with Zelensky. The pattern is leverage first, then a path to the table.

Zelensky now says Ukraine will take that path in any format. He still wants the pressure aimed at Putin. Trump’s order keeps American interests, including costs at home, at the center of the next move.

Peace gets closer when Washington sets terms that serve the country that funds the leverage, and when both warring parties finally show up ready to deal.