President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he will hold a meeting with former U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on December 28, amidst diplomatic initiatives to look for a way towards bringing an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, which has now entered its fourth year.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Zelenskyy announced the upcoming discussion will be centered on security assurances for Ukraine and the progress made in a peace format, indicating that the initiatives are “about 90 percent ready” to establish conditions for stability.
This meeting comes on the heels of a string of diplomatic interactions between U.S. representatives. Zelenskyy has recently met with Trump’s close aide and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. At the same time, the Kremlin has recently acknowledged interactions between Russian representatives and their U.S. counterparts.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reported, “The dialogue between Moscow and Washington continues,” in response to prior discussions between Russian representative Kirill Dmitriev and U.S. representatives. There were no signs of a breakthough, although they were deemed constructive talks.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine might withdraw forces from the industrial region in the east provided that the Russians do the same and international monitors were allowed into the region. But the Russians have been reluctant to withdraw their troops and continue with their demands for the remaining Ukrainian-held territories within the Donbas region and the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Even while there appears to be diplomatic movement, there are continued reports of ground-level
Ukrainian authorities said a guiding aerial bomb had hit a housing district in the Zaporizhzhia region, killing one person and injured three others. Another incident involved missile strikes by Russian forces in the city of Uman. This left several civilians wounded. Drone strikes on energy and port infrastructure in the city of Odesa also resulted in power outages.
Ukraine, on the other hand, alleged attacks on a major oil refinery belonging to the Russians. Ukraine claimed it carried out a strike on a major Russian oil refinery. According to a statement by Ukraine’s military, it targeted a refinery known as Novoshakhtinsk, which is found in Russia’s Rostov region, using long-range missiles.
According to the Ukranian government, the goal of such attacks is to undermine the capabilities of Russia’s funding of its war efforts by targeting Russia’s energy sector, while Russia is also working on attacking the Ukranian power infrastructure with the aim of pressuring the civilians using blackouts. Even with diplomatic efforts on the rise, the conflict continues unresolved, with both parties sticking to what they want, all while the cost in human lives continues to mount.
