--- title: "Trump Says Someone Else Should Negotiate for Ukraine, as Zelenskyy Heads for Oslo" description: "Kyiv says US arms shipments are delayed while Zelenskyy meets Witkoff and Europeans in Norway; Seoul pulls more staff from Kyiv" author: "Jan Sokol" published: 2026-10-20T10:24:28Z modified: 2026-10-20T12:05:41Z url: https://rews.cc/a/trump-says-someone-else-should-negotiate-for-ukraine-as-zele-7288ad language: en tags: ["ukraine", "trump", "war", "north-korea", "diesel", "europe", "us"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Trump Says Someone Else Should Negotiate for Ukraine, as Zelenskyy Heads for Oslo *Kyiv says US arms shipments are delayed while Zelenskyy meets Witkoff and Europeans in Norway; Seoul pulls more staff from Kyiv* By Jan Sokol · October 20, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/trump-says-someone-else-should-negotiate-for-ukraine-as-zele-7288ad ## In brief - Trump said “maybe it’s time” for someone other than Zelenskyy to negotiate for Ukraine - Ukraine says American arms shipments have been delayed as relations with Washington sour - Zelenskyy meets Witkoff and European leaders in Oslo on Tuesday; Kushner joins remotely due to illness - South Korea will pull more embassy staff from Ukraine over the North Korean POW disclosure row - Seoul recalled its ambassador after Zelenskyy revealed the transfer of two North Korean soldiers to the South On the driveway outside the White House on Monday, the president of the United States offered his judgment on who should sit across the table from Moscow — and it was not the man Ukraine elected. “Zelenskyy is a man that should have had settled this war a long time ago,” Donald Trump told reporters, [Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/20/us-ukraine-relations-sour-as-trump-zelenskyy-clash-over-talks-arms). “If he would’ve listened to me, he would have made a much better deal a long time ago.” Then came the sentence now travelling through every chancellery: “Maybe it’s time for Zelenskyy to get somebody else to negotiate.” The remark lands in a relationship gone cold. Ukraine, for its part, says American arms shipments have been delayed — the instruments of war held up while the instruments of peace are rearranged. It is barely a week since [a truce declared from Washington collapsed within days](https://rews.cc/a/a-ceasefire-declared-on-truth-social-meets-69-drones-and-a-d-3e9ead), and now the man who announced it doubts the signature on the Ukrainian side of the table. Zelenskyy, meanwhile, is doing the thing he has been told to be relieved of. On Tuesday he is due in Oslo to hold talks on ending the war with Russia, joined by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders, a [separate Al Jazeera report](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/20/zelenskyy-to-hold-peace-talks-in-oslo-with-witkoff-kushner-attending) said. The prime ministers of Norway and Finland will be present in the Norwegian capital. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, is expected to attend remotely because of illness. ![A suited hand pulls out a chair with Ukrainian flag colors at a wooden conference table surrounded by empty chairs, with paper and a pen.](https://rews.cc/img/89bdc06f5d644f3f473f623dfc6737176800c18b.webp) ## The view from Kyiv’s other friends While Washington quarrels with Kyiv over who may speak for Ukraine, Seoul is demonstrating what such quarrels cost. South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday it will withdraw additional embassy personnel from Ukraine, citing Kyiv’s lack of a “constructive response” in their dispute over North Korean prisoners of war, [Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/20/south-korea-to-pull-more-embassy-staff-from-ukraine-after-pow-row). Seoul had conveyed its position through multiple channels without a sufficient answer, ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon said. The quarrel began with a secret made public. Zelenskyy told the United Nations General Assembly that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to the South — a transfer Seoul regarded as confidential, [NPR reported](https://www.npr.org/2026/10/08/g-s1-147115/south-korea-to-recall-its-ambassador-to-ukraine-over-north-korean-pow-dispute) when it recalled its ambassador from Kyiv earlier this month. Zelenskyy’s office answered that the two countries had no non-disclosure agreement, [according to the BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckwy48rrz95vo). In war, even prisoners become instruments — and their names, once spoken in the hall of nations, cannot be unspoken. So on a Tuesday in October, Zelenskyy flies to Oslo to bargain for an end to the war, carrying instructions from Washington that someone else should be holding his brief. Ryadom — next to him — sit the envoys of the man who said it. The Norwegians will provide the room. History, as usual, will provide the irony. ## Sources - [US-Ukraine relations sour as Trump and Zelenskyy clash over talks and arms](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/20/us-ukraine-relations-sour-as-trump-zelenskyy-clash-over-talks-arms) — aljazeera.com - [Zelenskyy to hold talks on Russia-Ukraine war with Witkoff, Europeans](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/20/zelenskyy-to-hold-peace-talks-in-oslo-with-witkoff-kushner-attending) — aljazeera.com - [South Korea to pull more embassy staff from Ukraine after POW row](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/20/south-korea-to-pull-more-embassy-staff-from-ukraine-after-pow-row) — aljazeera.com