Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he plans to fulfill with President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday, a potential signal of progress in U.S.-backed talks to finish the almost four-year battle between Russia and Ukraine.
“We’re not dropping a single day. Now we have agreed on a gathering on the highest stage — with President Trump within the close to future,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Friday.
In a WhatsApp chat with Ukrainian journalists later Friday, Zelenskyy confirmed the assembly would happen on Sunday. He added that it’s unclear “whether or not territorial points will probably be mentioned.”
U.S. officers didn’t reply to requests for affirmation that the presidents would meet on Sunday. Trump mentioned in November that he would solely meet with Zelenskyy or Putin if a deal was reached or in its “ultimate phases.”
The announcement got here a day after Zelenskyy mentioned he had held a “good dialog” with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, each central to U.S.-led efforts to resolve the battle.
Trump has made a high-level diplomatic push to finish the battle, however his efforts have run into Moscow and Kyiv’s extensively differing positions and calls for.
Putin, who launched a full-scale invasion of Russia’s much-smaller neighbor in February 2022, has not backed off of maximalist calls for that will see Ukraine blocked from integrating with the West and restrict its capability to defend itself.
Till Tuesday, Zelenskyy had maintained that he can be unwilling to withdraw troops from the nation’s jap industrial heartland, a lot of which has been occupied by Russian forces, as a part of a plan to finish the battle.
In a information convention with Ukrainian journalists earlier this week, Zelenskyy mentioned that he can be keen to barter handing over some territory if Moscow is able to “pull again their troops accordingly” from what’s going to develop into a demilitarized zone monitored by worldwide forces.
On Thursday, Russian International Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova mentioned that there had been “sluggish however regular progress” within the peace talks, though Russia has given no indication that it’ll comply with any sort of withdrawal from land it has seized.
Throughout a closed assembly with prime Russian businessmen on Wednesday, Putin mentioned that he desires the whole Donbas area however is perhaps open to swapping some territory managed by Russian forces in Ukraine, in accordance with the Russian newspaper Komersant.
Beforehand, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it nonetheless holds within the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the 2 areas that make up the Donbas.
On the bottom, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba mentioned Russian drone assaults broken three foreign-flagged vessels in ports in Ukraine’s Odesa and Mykolaiv areas, together with a vessel beneath the flag of Slovakia, which is a NATO member nation.
“There are partial disruptions to the facility provide,” Kuleba mentioned in an announcement on Telegram on Friday.
In the meantime, Ukraine mentioned it struck a significant Russian oil refinery on Thursday utilizing British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukraine’s Normal Employees mentioned its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov area. “A number of explosions have been recorded. The goal was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.
Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar mentioned a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the hearth.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries intention to deprive Moscow of the oil export income it must pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia desires to cripple the Ukrainian energy grid, in search of to disclaim civilians entry to warmth, gentle and operating water in what Kyiv officers say is an try and “weaponize winter.”
This can be a growing story. Please test again for updates.
