Zelensky says only U.S. can push Russia toward peace as Miami talks open; Odesa oil terminal hit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the United States is the only power capable of persuading Russia to end the war, as diplomats converged on Miami for fresh talks that could reshape the format of negotiations.
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“I believe that such strength exists in the United States and in President (Donald) Trump. And I believe that we should not be looking for alternatives to the United States. All alternatives are under question as to whether they would be able to do this,” Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv.
He said Washington has offered a potential new structure for Ukraine-Russia peace talks that could bring American—and possibly European—envoys more directly into the process. “The U.S. said they would have a separate meeting with representatives of Russia,” he said, adding that the proposed format could involve “Ukraine, America, Russia, and, since there are representatives of Europe there, probably Europe as well.”
U.S. negotiators were set to meet Russian officials in Florida, amid renewed shuttle diplomacy aimed at ending a war now nearing its fourth year. Ukraine and Russia have not negotiated face to face since July, but Kyiv, European representatives and American counterparts held a round of discussions in the United States yesterday and agreed to resume contacts soon, Umerov said.
The diplomatic push coincided with another barrage of Russian strikes on Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline. Kyiv and a seed oil trader said Russia hit sunflower oil storage in the Odesa region for a second straight day, targeting export infrastructure critical to Ukraine’s economy.
“Ukraine’s largest vegetable oil terminal, Allseeds Black Sea, was struck by a bombardment early Saturday,” in the Pivdennyi port, said Cornelis Vrins, Allseeds’ director of trade. He said one employee was killed and two were wounded. The attack destroyed “thousands of tonnes of sunflower oil” and caused the company’s most severe damage since the war began, according to the co-founder of one of Ukraine’s top seed oil traders.
Ukraine is the world’s leading producer of sunflower oil, according to analysts’ estimates, and sustained attacks on port and storage facilities threaten both global markets and Kyiv’s war-time revenues. Strikes in recent weeks have also hit bridges, ports and energy infrastructure, cutting electricity and heating to thousands amid freezing temperatures.
“Russia is once again trying to restrict Ukraine’s access to the sea and block our coastal regions,” Zelensky said, adding he had ordered temporary infrastructure solutions “so that people would have all the necessary resources.”
Moscow has warned it will expand strikes on Ukrainian ports, framing the escalation as retaliation for Kyiv’s targeting of Russia’s sanctions-busting oil tankers. Ukraine said yesterday it struck another of those “shadow fleet” tankers in neutral waters of the Mediterranean Sea—the first such strike there during the war—after hitting similar vessels in the Black Sea earlier this month.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in early December that Russia would broaden attacks on Ukrainian ports and threatened to cut off Ukraine’s access to the sea if tanker strikes continued.
The dual track—intensifying diplomacy in Miami alongside intensifying strikes on the Black Sea coast—underscores the stakes. Any new negotiation format involving the United States and Europe will have to contend with ongoing battlefield pressures and the economic toll of disrupted exports, even as Kyiv insists Washington is central to any credible path to peace.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
