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Ukrainian Officials, Trump Envoys Meet 02/25 06:00
A Ukrainian delegation is set to meet Thursday with American envoys in the
run-up to another round of trilateral talks with Russia, Ukraine President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- A Ukrainian delegation is set to meet Thursday with
American envoys in the run-up to another round of trilateral talks with Russia,
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary, is
due to hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, and
Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Zelenskyy told reporters in a media chat
Wednesday.
The meeting will take place in Geneva, Umerov's press secretary Diana
Davytian said.
The Swiss city is also expected to host on the same day a round of nuclear
talks between the United States and Iran.
A U.S. push for peace has already brought Russia and Ukraine to the table in
Abu Dhabi and Geneva this year, but the talks have produced no breakthrough on
bridging key differences as Russia's all-out invasion of its neighbor enters
its fifth year.
Thursday's meeting will address details of a possible postwar recovery plan
for Ukraine and discuss preparations for an upcoming trilateral meeting with
Moscow officials, Zelenskyy said, adding that he has also tasked Umerov with
discussing a possible prisoner exchange.
Ukraine wants the talks with Russia to take place next week, he said.
In a defiant stance Tuesday, amid events marking the fourth anniversary of
Russia's invasion, Zelenskyy noted that Russia has not defeated Ukraine nor
broken the Ukrainian spirit, despite its bigger and better equipped army and
heavy bombardment of civilian areas.
Ukrainian forces have in recent months pushed back Russia's army at points
along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line in eastern areas of the
country, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
The "significant gains" are the biggest since 2024, the Washington-based
think tank said, though they are unlikely to grow into major offensives as
Ukraine struggles with a troop shortage. Even so, they likely will disrupt
Russian plans for a spring-summer offensive, it said.
Ukraine has also continued its almost nightly long-range drone barrage of
military and allied infrastructure targets deep inside Russia.
The U.S. State Department has expressed its displeasure with Ukraine's
recent attacks on the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea that
have impacted U.S. oil interests in Kazakhstan, Kyiv's chief envoy to
Washington said Tuesday.
Early Wednesday, four workers of the Dorogobuzh fertilizer plant in western
Russia's Smolensk region were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack and another 10
were injured, Gov. Vasily Anokhin said. He said that the attack sparked a fire
at the plant.
Ukrainian authorities, meanwhile, said Russia attacked with 115 strike
drones overnight.
In a village in the southern Zaporizhzhia district, a strike killed four
people and injured a child, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.
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