Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that negotiations with the United States to end the Russia-Ukraine war are moving on to the “next steps” following a flurry of meetings between the two sides in Florida this week.
U.S. and Ukrainian delegations held peace talks in Miami throughout the week after Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. While the peace talks with Putin appeared to yield little progress, Zelensky expressed optimism on Saturday after a two-hour phone call with Witkoff and Kushner following the Miami negotiations.
“I’ve just had a long and substantive phone call with [Steve Witkoff] and [Jared Kushner], alongside Andrii Hnatov and [Rustem Umerov]. I am grateful for a very focused, constructive discussion,” he said in a statement. “Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace. We agreed on the next steps and formats for talks with the United States. I thank President Trump for such an intensive approach to negotiations.”
While Zelensky did not go into specifics on what was discussed, Axios reported that the call centered on potential territory swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine.
It is unclear what the new round of negotiations will look like, but Zelensky is expected to be briefed by his team on Monday.
Despite the apparent progress, Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have continued.
Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack early Saturday that damaged railways, residential buildings, energy facilities, and warehouses. A nuclear power plant that has been out of service since the start of the war also briefly lost power.