Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday he would meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday, the next step in ongoing talks aimed at ending Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine.
Zelensky told reporters that the leaders of the two countries will discuss Ukraine’s security issues during weekend talks and that the 20-point plan being discussed is “about 90% ready.”
Earlier on Friday, Ukraine’s president said he would meet with Trump “in the near future.”
“We will not lose a day. We have agreed to hold a top-level meeting with President Trump in the near future,” Zelensky wrote on X.
“There are a lot of decisions that can be made before the New Year,” he added. “Glory to Ukraine.”
Zelensky’s announcement came after he said Thursday he had a “good conversation” with U.S. envoy Steve Witkov and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Washington has launched an extensive diplomatic effort to end all-out war, but its efforts have been met with starkly different demands from Moscow and Kiev.
Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine would consider withdrawing troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a peace plan if Moscow also withdraws and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Russia has not expressed agreement to withdraw its troops from the lands it occupies.
In fact, Moscow insists that Kyiv give up territory it holds in eastern Donbass, including Donetsk and Luhansk – an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected.
Issues over the management of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant occupied by Russian forces and the Kremlin’s demand that Ukraine not join NATO remain unresolved.
Moscow is expected to reply on Wednesday with its latest 20-point plan. However, it has yet to do so or comment on its content, with presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying only that the Kremlin was “forming its position.”
Relevant
On the ground, Russian drone attacks on the city of Nikolaev and its suburbs continued into Friday, causing power outages in parts of the city.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using Storm Shadow missiles supplied by Britain.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces attacked the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region. “Multiple explosions were recorded. Target hit,” it wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries were aimed at depriving Moscow of the oil export revenue it would need for a full-scale invasion.
Continuing its strategy from previous winter periods, Russia hopes to cripple Ukraine’s power grid and try to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water, in what Kiev officials say is an attempt to weaponize winter.
