President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, are due to meet at Mar-a-Lago this weekend to discuss efforts to end Russia’s invasion.
Axios, citing a senior Ukrainian official, reported that talks between the two leaders will happen Sunday after Zelensky wrote on X that a “meeting at the highest level” would take place “in the near future.”
“A lot can be decided before the New Year,” the Ukrainian president added in a hint at when the meeting would be scheduled.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment or to confirm when the meeting would take place.
The reported meeting came one day after Zelensky said he had a “very good conversation” with Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff and first son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“I thank them for the constructive approach, the intensive work, and the kind words and Christmas greetings to the Ukrainian people,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X. “We are truly working 24/7 to bring closer the end of this brutal Russian war against Ukraine and to ensure that all documents and steps are realistic, effective, and reliable.”
Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.
Zelensky said Tuesday he would be willing to withdraw troops from the country’s eastern industrial heartland if Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Moscow has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.
In fact, the Kremlin has insisted that Ukraine relinquish all remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Kyiv has rejected.
Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.
However, Ukraine’s forces secured a much-needed victory this week, pushing Russian troops out of the key logisitical hub of Kupyansk fewer than two weeks after Moscow claimed to have captured the city.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War reported on Christmas Eve that pro-Russian online sources, known as “milbloggers,” have accused military commanders of “false and exaggerated claims” about the extent of their earlier gains in Kupyansk.
ISW also assessed that Russia “does not have sufficient manpower or materiel” to conquer the remainder of Donetsk “while simultaneously continuing offensive operations elsewhere.”
“The Kremlin is therefore making demands in negotiations that Ukraine cede the unoccupied parts of Donetsk Oblast, likely in order to save Russia the personnel and materiel resources and possibly to put Russia in a more advantageous position to re-invade in the future to pursue Putin’s longer-term strategic goal of controlling all of Ukraine,” the assessment went on.
Elsewhere, Russian drone attacks on the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it struck a major Russian oil refinery Thursday using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region, writing on Telegram that “[m]ultiple explosions were recorded.”
Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion.
Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”
With Post wires
