Trump administration held backchannel talks with Zelensky’s team in effort to resume negotiations after Oval Office meeting — CNN

Officials from the Trump administration held backchannel talks with Volodymyr Zelensky and his team to stress “the importance of stabilizing relations with the White House” following the American and Ukrainian presidents’ contentious Oval Office meeting last week, CNN reports, citing two sources familiar with the situation.

The negotiators reportedly included Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg. Trump administration officials urged the Ukrainians to resume talks on a minerals deal “sooner rather than later,” aiming to have one signed before the U.S. president’s address to Congress on Tuesday evening.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also helped persuade the Ukrainian president, The Times reports. According to the paper’s sources, Starmer spoke with Zelensky by phone on Tuesday. During the conversation, he conveyed to Zelensky that “there were certain things Trump wanted to hear,” including an acknowledgement that Zelensky had mishandled the Friday White House meeting, The Times writes.

This was followed by a social media post from Zelensky in which he admitted that the Oval Office meeting “did not go the way it was supposed to be” and expressed regret. “It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive,” Zelensky wrote.