Volodymyr Zelensky said he held a “constructive” conversation with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, describing it as a focused effort to explore how to bring an “end to the bloodshed.” The call coincided with the third consecutive day of American and Ukrainian delegations convening in Miami for another round of discussions aimed at halting the conflict.
After the call, Zelensky wrote on X that “we covered many aspects and went through key points that could ensure an end to the bloodshed and eliminate the threat of a new Russian full scale invasion, as well as the risk of Russia failing to honour its promises, as has happened repeatedly in the past.” He added that “we agreed on the next steps and formats for talks with the United States.”
Kyiv’s security leadership — including national security adviser Rustem Umerov and Andrii Hnatov, chief of staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces — is slated to brief Zelensky upon returning home, he noted. Their report is expected to outline what, if anything, the latest exchanges with Washington might yield.
The diplomatic track unfolded against the backdrop of one of Russia’s most punishing overnight assaults in months. Ukraine’s air force reported that Moscow launched 653 drones and 51 missiles in a sweeping overnight strike that hammered the country’s already fragile energy network and set off air raid sirens nationwide.
Local authorities said at least eight people were injured, with three hurt in the Kyiv region. Substations and power-generation facilities took significant hits, and one of the two power lines feeding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was knocked offline, causing the facility to lose external electricity yet again — the eleventh such outage since the start of Moscow’s invasion, officials said. The head of Ukraine’s state grid operator characterized the destruction as “quite severe,” according to the Kyiv Independent.
Zelensky condemned the barrage on Telegram, calling it “a meaningless strike from a military point of view.” He stressed that “the main targets of these strikes are once again energy infrastructure. The goal of the Russians is to hurt millions of Ukrainians, and they have already fallen so low that they launch missiles at peaceful cities on St. Nicholas Day.”
Poland’s air force revealed that its fighter jets were scrambled as the hours-long attack on western Ukraine approached its borders, prompting Warsaw to reinforce its airspace defenses.
These latest developments follow an earlier, extended sit-down in Moscow between Vladimir Putin, Witkoff, and Kushner — a meeting that culminated in the Kremlin declaring parts of the peace framework “unacceptable.”
After the follow-up talks in Miami, which began Thursday, the U.S. delegation acknowledged the challenges ahead. In a statement on Friday, Witkoff wrote: “Both parties agreed that real progress toward any agreement depends on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps toward de-escalation and cessation of killings.”
{Matzav.com}
