Ukraine says talks on resolving war to continue tomorrow

Ukrainian and US negotiators trying to move towards a settlement ⁠of the four-year war pitting Kyiv against Moscow opened their latest round of talks in Florida, with more discussions planned through the weekend.

Russian representatives were not present at the meeting.

"We continued discussing key issues and the next steps within the negotiation track," chief Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov wrote on social media platform X.

"Particular attention was paid to aligning approaches for further progress toward practical results," he added.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met at two sets of US-brokered talks in the United Arab Emirates this year and a round in Geneva last month.

Russia and Ukraine agreed ‌on prisoner exchanges, but no breakthroughs ⁠were achieved.

The White House described the latest meeting as "constructive", with discussions "focused on narrowing and resolving remaining items to move closer to a comprehensive peace agreement".

Mr Umerov, a senior Ukrainian security official, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said there would be further talks tomorrow.

The US negotiating team is led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law.

Mr Zelensky, speaking ‌earlier in his nightly video address, said pursuing the talks was critical to securing a deal.

"It is important for all of us in the world ⁠that diplomacy continues and that we are trying to end this war," he said.

"No one wants this war," ‌he added.

Mr Zelensky said the "most important thing is to understand how ready the Russian side is ⁠to move toward ‌a real end to the war and whether they are prepared to do so honestly and decently".

The Ukrainian president told reporters yesterday the US and Ukrainian working groups would focus on bilateral documents and discuss a wide-ranging drone deal.

Ukraine, eager ⁠to capitalise on its expertise in defending against Russian drone attacks, is also working to finalise agreements with eight Middle ⁠Eastern countries as the US-Israeli war with Iran escalates, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The talks in Miami were initially planned to include Russian negotiators and take place in Abu Dhabi, with a focus on finding a settlement to the four-year-old war sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The chief sticking point remains territory, with Russia calling for Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, ‌including areas Russian forces have not captured.

Ukraine rejects the Russian demand.

Meanwhile ⁠Russian attacks on Ukraine killed two people in Zaporizhzhia and left most of the northern region of Chernihiv without power, Ukrainian officials said.

Zaporizhzhia Governor Ivan Fedorov said the morning attack on the city killed a ‌man and ⁠a woman, and injured six others, including two children.

Meanwhile, in Chernihiv region, Governor Viacheslav Chaus said repair works were underway to fix damage after a drone strike ‌on an energy facility.

The region, which borders Russia and Belarus, ⁠had a pre-war population of ‌nearly a million.

The regional capital, also called Chernihiv, ⁠was ‌fully without power, the city administration there said.

Russia has conducted a bombardment campaign against Ukrainian energy facilities ⁠throughout the war, causing regular, hours-long blackouts across the ⁠country.

Chernihiv was badly hit by power outages over the winter as Russia carried out its biggest bombing campaign of the four-year war against Ukraine's electricity grid.