Miami (AFP) – Ukrainians negotiators arrived in the US Saturday for talks with Donald Trump’s administration on how to end four years of war with Russia, expected to focus on security guarantees and post-war 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 Dan Driscoll in Miami. The talks come as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion looms and as Moscow has pounded Ukraine’s energy facilities during a freezing winter. The war is Europe’s worst conflict since World War Two.
Kyiv is seeking clarity from its allies on post-war security guarantees, which it sees as key to deter Moscow from invading again. 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, the wartime leader said his delegation was tasked to “provide all the real information about what is happening”. Thousands have braved freezing temperatures as low as -19C without heating in Kyiv due to Russian strikes. “One of the consequences of this terror is the discrediting of the diplomatic process, people are losing faith in diplomacy,” Zelensky warned. 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 war 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 east Ukraine gathered pace since autumn, with the Kremlin insisting it will seize the rest of Ukrainian land it claims as Russian by force if diplomacy fails. The Kremlin has so far rejected Western peace proposals and not dropped its maximalist demands.
Territory and security guarantees have been at the forefront of remaining questions on a plan to end the war. The UK and France have signed a declaration of intent to deploy troops to Ukraine if there is a ceasefire — but Moscow objects to that plan, warning any foreign forces would be “legitimate targets” for its forces. Zelensky said 400,000 people were experiencing “difficulties with electricity” in Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv after night-time Russian strikes. Authorities also said 56,000 families in the Bucha area — outside Kyiv where Russian forces committed atrocities in 2022 — were without power after the attacks. Schools in the Ukrainian capital will be shut until February over health concerns due to the power outage, authorities have 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. Russia occupies large swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine. It said Saturday that its forces had captured two more Ukrainian villages, in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. The US has held talks with both Moscow and Kyiv on ending the war, but relations between Europe and the Kremlin largely frozen since Russia launched its full-scale offensive in 2022. France and Italy have said in recent weeks that Europe should re-engage with Moscow to end the conflict, while Britain has said it has no plans to talk to the Kremlin.
© 2024 AFP
