Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and broader efforts to end the nearly four-year war with Russia.
Zelenskyy told journalists that the leaders will meet Sunday and that a proposed 20-point plan under discussion is “about 90 percent ready.” He said the talks will focus on security guarantees for Ukraine, along with an “economic agreement,” though he could not confirm whether any deal would be finalized.
Territorial issues will also be raised, Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine would like European countries to be involved in the discussions but that it may not be feasible on short notice.
“We must, without doubt, find some format in the near future in which not only Ukraine and the U.S. are present, but Europe is represented as well,” he said.
The announced meeting is the latest development in an extensive U.S.-led diplomatic effort to end the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Those efforts have repeatedly stalled amid sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.
Zelenskyy’s comments followed his remarks Thursday that he had a “good conversation” with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russian officials have also been in contact with U.S. representatives after Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recently met with American envoys in Florida.
“It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue,” Peskov told reporters.
Trump has pursued diplomatic outreach aimed at ending the conflict, though negotiations have faced resistance from both sides. Zelenskyy said earlier this week that Ukraine would be willing to withdraw troops from parts of its eastern industrial heartland if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Russian officials have offered little indication they would agree to such terms. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there has been “slow but steady progress” in talks, but Moscow continues to insist that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it holds in the Donbas, a demand Kyiv has rejected.
Russia has captured most of the Luhansk region and about 70 percent of Donetsk, which together make up the Donbas.
Fighting continued on the ground Friday. One person was killed and three others wounded when a guided aerial bomb struck a house in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, local officials said. Six people were wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman.
Throughout Christmas, Russian drone attacks struck and damaged energy and port infrastructure in the southern city of Odesa and left parts of Mykolaiv and its suburbs without power, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukraine said it struck a major Russian oil refinery Thursday using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles. Ukraine’s General Staff said the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region was hit, reporting multiple explosions.
Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said a firefighter was wounded while extinguishing the blaze.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian oil refineries and energy facilities in an effort to reduce Moscow’s oil export revenue, while Russia has continued attacks on Ukraine’s power grid in what Ukrainian officials describe as an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
