During their phone call on the same day, Yermak and Waltz discussed “the next steps toward a just and lasting peace.”
Besides agreeing to restart intergovernmental talks, Yermak noted that he and Waltz discussed security issues and alignment of positions within the framework of bilateral relations between Ukraine and the United States.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during his evening address, stated that Ukrainian and U.S. officials have started working on arranging the next meeting.
"There is positive movement, and we hope for the first results next week," Zelenskyy said.
Previously, Ukrainian presidential advisor Dmytro Lytvyn reported that Waltz had a phone conversation with Andriy Yermak to discuss the meeting's date and location.
U.S. President Donald Trump, during his State of the Union speech on March 4, announced that he received a "letter" from Zelenskyy expressing Kyiv's readiness for immediate peace negotiations. It is unclear what “letter” Trump was referring to, given that he was quoting directly from a public Twitter post Zelenskyy made hours earlier.
He also claimed that Washington had received "strong signals" from Moscow indicating their "readiness for peace."