Ukraine

Ukraine’s foreign minister said only U.S. President Donald Trump can close a deal to end the war with Russia and urged an in-person summit between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin to settle the most sensitive points still blocking a cease-fire. “Only Trump can stop the war,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv, arguing that what remains of a 20-point peace framework must be decided at the leaders’ level. He said Kyiv wants to accelerate U.S.-brokered negotiations while momentum…

Russia said there had been “progress” in talks with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi as Kyiv accused Moscow of launching a “massive” overnight drone attack on railway infrastructure in the country’s north, underscoring the gulf between diplomatic messaging and battlefield realities nearly four years into the war. Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian negotiator, told state media that discussions in the United Arab Emirates were advancing. “There is definitely progress, things are moving forward in a good, positive direction,” he said on the second…

Ukraine, Russia open Abu Dhabi talks as strikes batter energy grid ABU DHABI — Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States were set to gather in the Emirati capital on Tuesday, seeking to advance talks on how to end the four-year war as a wave of Russian missile and drone attacks pounded Ukraine’s energy grid in subfreezing temperatures. The meeting, scheduled to run through Wednesday after a postponement last weekend over what the Kremlin called scheduling issues, comes amid grim omens for diplomacy. Europe’s…

Russia launched its most powerful barrage of the year against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight, Ukrainian officials said, knocking out heating for hundreds of thousands as temperatures plunged below minus 20 C and ahead of a new round of talks aimed at halting the four-year war. The strikes hit as an arctic cold snap gripped the country and damaged the base of Kyiv’s iconic Soviet-era Motherland monument, adding a symbolic wound to widespread utility outages. “Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to…

Russian missile and drone strikes hammered Kyiv, Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities early Tuesday, injuring at least four people and igniting new fires at energy facilities as a deep freeze gripped the country, officials said. The barrage came on the eve of planned trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates involving envoys from Kyiv, Moscow and Washington on efforts to halt the war. Air raid alerts sounded after midnight in the capital, where night temperatures fell below minus 20 C. Witnesses reported loud explosions as…

Zelensky announces Feb. 4–5 Abu Dhabi talks with U.S., Russian envoys as strikes hit Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday’s two-day talks among U.S., Russian and Ukrainian envoys will open in Abu Dhabi, describing the latest bid to halt the Ukraine war as Russian strikes again hit civilians and critical infrastructure. “The dates for the next trilateral meetings have been set — February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi,” Zelensky wrote on X. “Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested…

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said he held “productive and constructive” talks Friday in Florida with Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev, a meeting that comes on the eve of a new round of Ukraine peace talks in Abu Dhabi backed by Washington. “Today in Florida, the Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev held productive and constructive meetings as part of the U.S. mediation effort toward advancing a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian conflict,” Witkoff posted on X, adding, “We are encouraged by this meeting that Russia is…

Mass power outages swept across Ukraine on Saturday after a “technical malfunction” knocked out high-voltage lines linking Moldova and Romania with Ukraine, disrupting water supplies in Kyiv and forcing a complete shutdown of the capital’s metro, officials said. “Today at 10:42 am (0842 GMT), a technical malfunction occurred, causing a simultaneous shutdown of the 400-kilovolt line between the power grids of Romania and Moldova and the 750-kilovolt line between western and central Ukraine,” Ukraine’s energy minister Denys…

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, and KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday of ordering massive missile and drone strikes as negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States met in Abu Dhabi for a second day to discuss a plan to end the nearly four-year war. "Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror," Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote on X. "Cynically, Putin ordered a brutal massive missile strike against…

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Russia, Ukraine and the United States reconvened in Abu Dhabi for a second day of talks on a plan backed by President Donald Trump to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine, as fresh Russian strikes left thousands of Kyiv residents without heat in sub-zero temperatures. The meeting marks the first known direct contact between Ukrainian and Russian officials on the Trump proposal. Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said discussions focused “on the parameters for ending Russia’s war…