Ukrainian

‘Not now and not anytime soon’: Ukraine’s 18–22 exit rule sends a wave of young men to Poland and beyond On a gray December morning in Warsaw, Vadym, a 22-year-old from Chernihiv, stepped off a bus, opened his phone and started calling. Within days, he had a job with a Ukrainian logistics firm operating in Poland. Within weeks, he had a plan. “As for returning to Ukraine, in my view, not now and not anytime soon after the war ends,” he said. “Now I can only think about what lies beyond its borders.” Vadym is part of a new,…

MIAMI — Ukrainian negotiators arrived in the U.S. for Miami talks with President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, an effort Kyiv says will focus on security guarantees and post-war recovery as the war with Russia nears its fourth year. The mission underscores a dual-track push: Kyiv is seeking concrete assurances to deter a future Russian attack while confronting a punishing winter campaign that has battered Ukraine’s energy grid and left tens of thousands…

Ukrainian negotiators arrived in the United States for talks in Miami with President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, seeking a pathway to end nearly four years of war with Russia as strikes batter Ukraine’s energy grid in a brutal cold snap. Kyrylo Budanov, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s new chief of staff and head of the Ukrainian delegation, said on social media the team had landed and would “have an important conversation with our American…

Ukraine sends delegation to U.S. for security and recovery talks, eyes Davos signing amid energy crisis A Ukrainian delegation is en route to the United States for talks on security guarantees and a post-war recovery package, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, adding that Kyiv hopes to sign documents on the sidelines of next week’s World Economic Forum in Davos. Speaking in Kyiv alongside Czech President Petr Pavel, Zelensky said Ukraine also seeks clarity from Washington on Russia’s posture toward U.S.-backed diplomatic…

PARIS — U.S. and Ukrainian officials will continue negotiations on security guarantees for Ukraine after a high-level meeting in Paris produced what leaders called significant breakthroughs, including a U.S.-led truce monitoring mechanism and plans for a European multinational force to deploy in Ukraine once a ceasefire with Russia is agreed. The pledges emerged from the largest gathering yet of the “Coalition of the Willing,” where representatives from 35 countries — including 27 heads of state or government — sought to…

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s Al-Shabaab insurgents have released a new video showing Oleynik Aleksandr, a Ukrainian national and helicopter pilot held by the group since early 2024, appealing to the Ukrainian government and the United Nations to launch talks for his release and that of fellow crew members. The footage features Aleksandr identifying himself as the captain of a United Nations–contracted helicopter that made an emergency landing in militant-held territory in January 2024 while en route to Wisil, near Ceelbuur, in…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Al-Shabaab has released a video showing a Ukrainian helicopter pilot contracted by the United Nations pleading for his freedom, in one of the group’s most prominent hostage appeals involving a foreign national in recent years. In the footage distributed by al-Shabaab’s Kataib media arm, the pilot identifies himself as Oleynik Aleksandr and says he was captured after an emergency landing in central Somalia in January 2024, in territory controlled by the militant group. Addressing the camera directly, he…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet European allies in London as he faces pointed criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump over a proposed plan to end the war with Russia. The diplomatic push follows several days of talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials in Miami that ended without a breakthrough but with a pledge to keep negotiating. Zelensky will be received in London by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron for discussions focused…

MIAMI — U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff held two days of “productive” talks with Ukraine’s senior negotiator Rustem Umerov in Miami and will meet again, U.S. officials said Friday, as the delegation and Ukrainian leaders pressed to translate recent diplomacy with Moscow into a durable cease-fire. Witkoff, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow this week alongside President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Kushner held what the State Department and Ukrainian officials described as “constructive…

Ukraine negotiators and U.S. officials are holding fresh talks in Miami on a Washington-backed plan to end Russia’s invasion, a Kyiv adviser said, as behind-the-scenes diplomacy intensifies over proposals that would require territorial concessions and stop short of NATO membership. The meeting was scheduled to begin in Florida this week with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, listed as participants, though U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed whether an…