Ukrainian team arrives in Miami for peace talks

陈小将

MIAMI — Ukrainian negotiators arrived in the United States on Saturday for talks with President Donald Trump's administration on how to end four years of conflict with Russia, expected to focus on security guarantees and postwar recovery.

The team, headed by President Volodymyr Zelensky's new chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, will meet with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, envoy Steve Witkoff and US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll in Miami, Florida.

Sticking points between Kyiv and Washington on the guarantees remain, but Zelensky hopes to sign documents on them with the US next week.

Ahead of the talks, Zelensky said his delegation was tasked to "provide all the real information about what is happening". Thousands have braved freezing temperatures as low as — 19 C without heating in Kyiv because of Russian strikes.

"One of the consequences of this terror is the discrediting of the diplomatic process — people are losing faith in diplomacy," Zelensky said.

Ukraine's security chief Rustem Umerov and negotiator David Arakhamia will join Budanov for the Miami talks.

Trump has pushed for an end to the conflict and expressed frustration with both sides, with no breakthrough on the horizon.

He has also pressured Ukraine to accept peace terms that Kyiv says amount to capitulation.

Russia's advance in the special military operation zone gathered pace since autumn, with its military taking control of five populated settlements over the past week, including two in the past 24 hours, the Defense Ministry said on Friday.

The ministry said on Saturday that its forces had captured two more settlements in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Meanwhile, Zelensky said 400,000 people were experiencing "difficulties with electricity" in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv after night-time Russian strikes.

Authorities also said 56,000 families in the Bucha area outside Kyiv were without power after the attacks.

Schools in the Ukrainian capital will be shut until next month over health concerns because of the power outage, authorities said.

Ukraine's energy ministry said most regions of Ukraine had power restrictions. "Due to constant massive attacks by the Russian Federation, a state of emergency has been declared in the Ukrainian energy sector," the ministry said.

On Saturday, Zelensky said he had ordered the import of electricity and additional power equipment to be accelerated.

"All decisions for this are already in place, and the increase in imports must proceed without delay," he said on X after a meeting with top government and military officials.

Agencies - Xinhua