Zelenskiy says he is set to meet Trump in Florida
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he plans to meet with US President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend.
Zelenskiy told reporters that the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine in talks on Sunday and that “about 90 percent of the 20-point plan discussed is ready.”
Zelenskiy said the “economic agreement” would also be discussed, but he could not confirm “whether anything will be finalized by the end.”
He said that the Ukrainian side would also raise “territorial issues”.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine “wants the Europeans to get involved” but doubted whether this would be possible in the short term.
“Surely in the near future we must find a format in which not only Ukraine and the United States are represented, but also Europe,” he said.
The announced meeting is the latest development in the comprehensive US-led diplomatic initiative aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war, which has been going on for nearly four years; but the efforts resulted in completely conflicting demands from Russia and Ukraine.
Zelenskiy’s comments came after he said on Thursday that he had a “good meeting” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the Kremlin has already been in contact with US representatives since Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recently met with US envoys in Florida.
“An agreement was reached to continue the dialogue,” he said.
Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern industrial region as part of a plan to end the war if Russia also withdraws and the region becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international powers.
Local officials said on Friday that one person was killed and three people were injured when a guided aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya region, and six people were injured in a missile attack on the city of Uman.
Attacks by Russian drones on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs until Friday left part of the city without electricity.
In the Black Sea city of Odessa, energy and port infrastructure were damaged due to drones.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said it hit a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.
“Multiple explosions recorded. Target hit,” he wrote on Telegram.
Rostov regional governor Yuri Slyusar said one firefighter was injured while extinguishing the fire.
via Reuters
