What Did Trump Mean by ‘Something Will Happen’ on Ukraine?

On Sunday 25 October, Donald Trump said in a Fox News interview that something will happen on Ukraine after his envoy’s trip to Russia. URA.ru reported no detail and no date. The same day Dmitry Medvedev, a deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, urged Trump to call the head of the CIA about Volodymyr Zelensky, and Zelensky told Ukrainian television that two of the three pressure points Washington had put on Kyiv were lifted.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy, met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on 21 October. The Kremlin has since said it will return to trilateral talks after 4 November, as we reported in Would Russia Accept an EU Envoy for Ukraine Talks?. The statements below are what the three capitals said about that meeting on the day Trump spoke.

Trump’s remark, as Russian outlets reported it, promises an event without naming one. RBC-Ukraine reported no US reaction to Medvedev’s post. Zelensky told TSN that Starlink and US intelligence were restored and that air defence was not. Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide, still gives 4 November as the day after which Moscow is ready to talk.

Trump spoke to Fox News, according to the Russian outlet URA.ru. It quoted him in Russian as saying that Witkoff went to Russia to discuss a couple of issues, among them the war in Ukraine, about which “I think something will happen”. URA.ru also reported that Trump called the person who came back from the trip a very good man, a reference to Stephen Hubbard, the American released during the visit. Izvestia carried a second line in Russian translation: “We expect talks soon. And I think both of them want to make a deal.” Both are Russian renderings of English remarks, and the Fox transcript was not available to Silent Dossier.

Medvedev wrote on Sunday that Zelensky had grown insolent toward Trump. The Moscow Times and RBC-Ukraine reported his post. RBC-Ukraine translated it as asking what Trump should do with Zelensky, and answering: “He just needs to call the Secretary of War and the CIA director.” It added: “The method, place, and manner do not matter.” RBC-Ukraine said his grievances included Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries and alleged misuse of US aid, and that Washington, Kyiv and the CIA had not responded. UNN, a Ukrainian outlet, headlined the post as a call to “get rid of” Zelensky. Another outlet quoted Medvedev’s own phrase as fixing an “unfortunate misunderstanding”.

Zelensky spoke to TSN in an interview broadcast on 25 October about the Oslo talks with US officials earlier in the week. TSN reported that he named three problems: air defence, Starlink and Starshield restrictions, and limited access to US intelligence. Of the second and third he said: “Today I state, thanks to the Americans and our team, that two questions are closed.” He said Starlink returned to full operation at about 5:20 on Sunday morning and that Ukraine had full intelligence data for three days, including warning of Russian ballistic launches. On the first he said: “We still have the air defence question.” The quotations from Zelensky are Silent Dossier’s translations from Russian.

On 21 October the signals were different. CBS News reported that Ushakov said the proposals Witkoff carried from Ukraine and the EU “contained little that was useful”. Censor.net reported Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, saying Putin handed Witkoff no documents. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Putin freed Hubbard with “no ‘swap’ necessary”, and CBS noted that Zelensky had called Trump’s diesel deal with Russia a sign of weakness.

Four days later the Kremlin offers a date after 4 November. Trump, per URA.ru, offers an unnamed event. Zelensky reports two of three restrictions lifted. Medvedev asks Trump to call the CIA director about Zelensky, and Ukraine Today notes that Medvedev has no authority to direct US agencies.

Zelensky’s own sentence names what is left: “We still have the air defence question.” He told Fox News earlier in the week, in CBS’s report, “Don’t talk about us without us”. CBS said Zelensky would not accept a deal crafted by China, Russia and the United States, and that Russian state media had called a Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping meeting possible.

Our report on Starlink and Musk’s terms of service covers the dispute that Zelensky now calls closed.

Ushakov’s date is 4 November. Trump has yet to say what he expects to happen, and RBC-Ukraine reported no White House answer to Medvedev. Zelensky told TSN that air defence remains open, so the round will start with one of his three problems unsolved unless Washington moves first.