Zelensky Presses Witkoff and Kushner on Patriot Interceptors in 90-Minute Call Before Nov. 10-11 Abu Dhabi Talks

Since Witkoff's October meetings with Zelensky in Oslo and Putin in St. Petersburg, U.S.-run diplomacy has produced one concrete result: a date. Ukrainian, Russian and American negotiators are set to meet in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10-11, the first three-way session since February.

The latest step came Wednesday, Nov. 4. Zelensky said he spent an hour and a half on the phone with Witkoff and Kushner. He called it a "very detailed" conversation.

What Kyiv asked for

Zelensky said Ukraine put its negotiating proposals in front of the Americans. He also raised air defense. "We need interceptors for Patriot systems to protect lives from Russian attacks," he said.

The request responds to a specific shortage. On Oct. 15, a source told CNN that Ukraine had exhausted its stocks of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors. According to Zelensky in late October, Ukraine had received only 24 Patriot interceptors from the US over 90 days, despite needing around 350 a month. Winter is approaching, and Russian ballistic missiles are the threat those systems are built to stop.

On Oct. 30, the State Department authorized a Foreign Military Sale of 500 PAC-3 MSE missiles to Ukraine, together with spare parts and logistical support, at an estimated cost of $2.1 billion. Zelensky warned that deliveries could take years, possibly leaving Kyiv without the urgently needed weapons as Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure.

Zelensky also put the bilateral "Drone Deals" track with Washington on the agenda and called for postwar security guarantees that are "truly ironclad." Witkoff and Kushner had not publicly commented on the call at the time of the Kyiv Post report.

The strikes keep coming

The diplomacy is running alongside heavy fighting. Zelensky said Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles in a massive overnight attack, which he described on Nov. 3 as aimed primarily at critical infrastructure.

He said the main targets were power generation facilities and substations in Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Rivne. On Nov. 4 he wrote that Russian strikes "continue virtually every day" and that work to restore energy infrastructure is taking place around the clock.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces hit energy complexes in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Vinnytsia regions. The ministry claimed those facilities provide electricity to the Ukrainian military and defense industry. Moscow also said Ukraine set fire to an oil refinery in Yaroslavl overnight.

The strikes resumed days after a localized humanitarian ceasefire around the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky expired on Nov. 1. The truce allowed civilians to evacuate a town that faced severe shortages of food, drinking water, electricity and medical supplies. First Lady Melania Trump is credited with brokering it. Within hours of its expiration, each side accused the other of using the pause to strengthen its military position.

Melania Trump's role and the Brussels meetings

The first lady's office said she would bring Russian and Ukrainian representatives together at the White House, without specifying a date. Russia's TASS news agency, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, reported that Kirill Dmitriev, Moscow's adviser for international economic cooperation, and human rights ombudsman Yana Lantratova will meet the first lady on Thursday, Nov. 5, "provided that all logistical arrangements work out." Ukraine's ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said he was headed to Washington for his own meeting with her.

In Brussels, the European Commission is hosting two days of talks. On Wednesday, Ukrainian and American teams met representatives of the EU, France, the UK, Germany, NATO, the World Bank and the business community on postwar reconstruction. Zelensky called it substantive.

On Thursday, Nov. 5, the Ukrainian delegation is set to take up security guarantees separately with the U.S., UK, France, Germany and NATO, according to Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service.

Zelensky made the Wednesday call during a visit to Madrid, where he is a guest of the 30th Ibero-American summit at the invitation of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

The gap that has not moved

Witkoff has said the Abu Dhabi talks will cover de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, postwar security arrangements and next steps toward peace. He wrote on X that the U.S. looks forward to "building on the progress made in Kyiv, Oslo, and St. Petersburg."

The sessions are team-level and technical. They could lead to a leader-level summit with Zelensky, Putin and Trump.

The core dispute is the same as before. Kyiv has long called for a ceasefire along current battle lines. Moscow has repeatedly rejected truce proposals and demanded that Ukraine cede unoccupied territory. U.S.-brokered negotiations in Trump's second term have produced prisoner exchanges and brief, limited truces, but little movement past that impasse.

The earlier rounds took place in Abu Dhabi in January and February, and in Geneva in February. The US-Israeli war on Iran then stalled the process. Kyiv wanted the next round sooner, and Moscow proposed mid-November.

It is unclear whether the Patriot request will get an answer before the talks begin. The Abu Dhabi talks are scheduled for Nov. 10-11.