Zelensky says he and Trump agreed to meet ‘in the near future’

Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday he would meet with President Trump “in the near future,” signaling an end to progress in negotiations. the war of almost four years between Russia and Ukraine.

“We are not wasting a single day. We have agreed to a meeting at the highest level – with President Trump in the near future,” Zelensky wrote on social networks. “A lot of things can be decided before the New Year,” he added.

Zelensky’s announcement came after he said Thursday he had a “good conversation” with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Mr. Trump has launched a broad diplomatic campaign to end the war, but his efforts have encountered sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and kyiv.

Zelensky said Tuesday he would be ready to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Moscow also withdrew and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

Although Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it would agree to any type of withdrawal from land it has seized.

In fact, Moscow insisted that Ukraine give up the remaining territory it still holds in Donbass – an ultimatum that Ukraine rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and around 70% of Donetsk – the two areas that make up Donbass.

The American envoys also held talks with the Russian side. Kirill Dmitriev, who heads the Russian sovereign wealth fund, traveled to Miami for last weekend’s meetings.

Despite the negotiations, in the days leading up to Christmas, Russia maintained its missile and drone bombardment Ukrainian cities, while a Russian general was killed in the explosion of a car bomb in Moscow.

On Friday night, Russian drone attacks on Mykolaiv and its suburbs left part of the city without electricity.

Meanwhile, Ukraine said it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces had struck the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region. “Several explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” he wrote on Telegram.

Rostov regional governor Yuri Slyusar said a firefighter was injured while putting out the blaze.

Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to continue its large-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple Ukraine’s power grid, seeking to deprive civilians of access to heat, electricity and running water, in what kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”