The United States wants Ukraine and Russia to end their war before June and has offered to organize talks between the two sides next week, according to Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has been pressuring Moscow and kyiv to end the nearly four-year conflict, recently mediating talks between the two sides in Abu Dhabi, but has so far failed to reach an agreement on the thorny territorial issue.
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“The United States has proposed for the first time that the two negotiating teams—Ukraine and Russia—meet in the United States, probably in Miami, within a week,” Zelensky told the press in statements published this Saturday.
“They say they want to have everything ready by June,” he added.
Zelensky has repeatedly expressed frustration that his country is being asked for disproportionate concessions compared to Russia.
In his statements published this Saturday, the Ukrainian leader stated that he would not tolerate Washington and Moscow reaching agreements behind kyiv’s back, especially if these affected Ukrainian sovereignty.
Both sides have also not reached a common understanding on control of the Ukrainian Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Moscow since 2022, Zelensky said.
In another order, Zelensky condemned the Russian attack against Ukraine from Friday night to this Saturday in which Russian forces used, according to the head of state of the invaded country, “more than 400 drones and about 40 missiles” directed mainly against the electrical sector.
“More than 400 drones and about 40 missiles of various types were used in this attack. The main target was the electrical grid and the generation and distribution substations,” Zelensky lamented on his Telegram account.
“Everywhere the situation allows, rescue and repair work is taking place at the points of Russian attack,” added the Ukrainian president.
Zelensky recognized “damage” in several Ukrainian regions, such as Volonia, in the northwest and bordering Poland, in Ivano-Frankovsk, also in the west and where the border with Romania is, Lviv, which also borders Polish territory, and Rivne, bordering Belarus.
The president indicated that in Rivne, an apartment block was damaged by the Russian attack, while in the Vinnitsia region, in the center of the country and bordering Moldova, specifically in the city of Ladizhin, Russian drones hit an administrative building.
“There were also attacks in the kyiv and Kharkov regions,” said Zelensky, who indicated that Ukraine still had its air defenses active.
“Every day Russia could choose real diplomacy, but it chooses attacks again. It is important that everyone who supports the trilateral negotiation responds to this,” said the Ukrainian president, in an allusion to the recent three-way negotiating efforts between Ukraine, Russia and the United States.
“Moscow must be deprived of the power to pressure Ukraine with cold weather,” Zelensky added, alluding that the Russian attacks against the Ukrainian energy infrastructure occur at a time when cold weather marks the daily life of the citizens of the invaded country.
For this Saturday there is a minimum temperature in Ukraine of up to minus six degrees below zero in some cities.
Given the persistence of this type of Russian air attacks against the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Zelensky asked for more military support from his international partners.“We need missiles for the Patriot, NASAMS and other systems,” he said, before thanking kyiv’s partners who understand the country’s situation and support it.
