Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that negotiations to end Russia's war against Ukraine cannot be placed on hold until the US war with Iran is resolved, telling CNN it would be "a big risk" to assume otherwise. Speaking to Christiane Amanpour from the presidential office in Kyiv on Wednesday, he said technical contacts with Washington are still running, but a higher-level meeting is unlikely while the Iran file remains open.
Ukraine, the US and Russia held trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi in late January and in Geneva on 17–18 February 2026, neither of which produced agreement on a ceasefire, territory or security guarantees. A further round tentatively set for early March in Abu Dhabi was put on pause after the US war with Iran began.
"Ukraine is not 'a little bit later'"
Zelenskyy told CNN he does not "see the opportunity to meet … until the question, the case of Iran will be closed." He argued that postponing the Ukrainian track was not an option: "We will speak about (Ukraine) a little bit later. … Ukraine is not 'a little bit later.' Ukraine is already in such a big tragedy, we have to find a way to manage this in a parallel way."
He said he understands that Washington is currently focused on Iran, but stressed, according to CNN, that the fighting in Ukraine continues and should not be set aside.
One US team, two wars
The Ukrainian president pointed to a structural problem: the same US negotiators — envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner — are leading both the Iran and Ukraine files. Zelenskyy called the overlap a "challenge," CNN reports.
The interview follows an acknowledgment last week that the war with Iran has pulled the attention of the Trump administration and its negotiators away from the Russia–Ukraine track. Zelenskyy has also said earlier that Ukraine has not received confirmed dates for visits to Kyiv by Witkoff and Kushner, who he said had previously promised to come in early April.
Weapons supply hit
Zelenskyy also told CNN that the Iran war has derailed some supplies of key weapons for Ukraine, singling out anti-ballistic missiles. Ukraine, he said, is not getting enough of them because US production capacity is limited.
€90 bn loan: "a question of life and surviving"
The CNN interview aired hours after EU ambassadors gave preliminary agreement to a long-delayed €90 bn loan for Ukraine. Zelenskyy said the money was "a question of life and surviving" for his country.
Without it, he said, Ukrainian industry is producing roughly half of what it can. He cited drone interceptors as an example: Ukraine is making around 1,000 units a day, though it has the capacity for 2,000. "But we don't have the funding. It's really a question of our life, of surviving, for defending, we need this money very much," he told CNN.
According to CNN, the loan had been held up for months by outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who demanded that Ukraine restart the transit of Russian oil into Europe as a condition. Orbán's landslide defeat in last week's Hungarian parliamentary election removed one obstacle, and on Wednesday oil transit through the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline resumed.
