Ukraine, US to hold peace talks

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW/KYIV — Ukrainian negotiators are due to hold talks in Florida on Sunday, as the country's representatives traveled to the United States to work on a renewed push to end the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X that the delegation, headed by national security chief Rustem Umerov, was on its way to "swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed" to end the conflict.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, were expected to sit down with a Ukrainian delegation to further hash out the details of a proposed peace framework.

A US delegation is expected to travel to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the second half of this week.

On Friday, just before the Florida sit-down, Zelensky announced the resignation of the head of his office, Andriy Yermak, who was the country's lead negotiator in talks with the US.

Earlier in the day, anti-corruption authorities conducted searches in Yermak's home as part of an investigation, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said, without giving further details.

It was only a week ago that Rubio had met with Yermak in Geneva, with each side saying the talks had been positive in putting together a revised peace plan.

Now, the Ukrainian delegation includes Andrii Hnatov, the head of Ukraine's armed forces; Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine's foreign minister; and Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's security council, Zelensky has said.

Diplomats have been focused on revising the US-proposed 28-point peace plan unveiled last month.

Following its release, representatives from the US, Ukraine and several European countries met in Geneva to discuss the plan.

After the discussions, the plan has been cut down to 19 points but has not been made public.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Moscow has received the parameters of the peace plan for Ukraine adjusted following consultations in Geneva.

"The main parameters have been communicated, and there will be a discussion in Moscow next week," Peskov said.

He said the Kremlin will not disclose all details of the plan, adding that everything will be discussed.

Trump said on Tuesday that he would send Witkoff and perhaps Kushner to Moscow this week to meet with Putin about the plan.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron will host Zelensky for talks in Paris, the French presidency announced.

Macron's office said the two leaders will "discuss the situation and the conditions for a just and lasting peace, in continuity with the Geneva discussions, the US plan, and in close coordination with our European partners".

Despite the diplomatic efforts, fighting on the battlefield shows no signs of easing.

On Saturday, Russian drone and missile attacks in and around Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, killed at least three people and wounded dozens more, officials said.

Fresh attacks overnight into Sunday killed one person and wounded 19 others, local officials said, when a drone hit a nine-story apartment block in the city of Vyshhorod in the Kyiv region.

In Russia, a major oil terminal near the port of Novorossiysk stopped operations on Saturday after a strike by unmanned boats damaged one of its three mooring points, according to a statement from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which owns the terminal.

Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, confirmed that Ukraine had carried out the attack.

Russia will notify all international platforms about the attack, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday, as cited by state-run RIA news agency.

Commenting on the incident, Zakharova said Ukraine's actions now pose a threat to global security.

Agencies - Xinhua