KYIV: A Ukrainian delegation arrived in the United States for talks Saturday on a U.S. led diplomatic push to end the nearly 4-year-old war as Russian attacks again took aim at Ukraine’s power grid, cutting electricity and heating in freezing temperatures.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said he arrived in the U.S. “to discuss the details of the peace agreement”. Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Budanov said he, together with Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Davyd Arakhamia, would meet with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.
Also on Telegram, Zelenskyy said Saturday that the principal task for the Ukrainian delegation was to convey how ongoing Russian strikes are undermining diplomacy. The strikes, he said, are “constantly worsening even the small opportunities for dialogue that existed. The American side must understand this”.
Zelenskyy’s latest comments come after he said Friday that the delegation would try to finalize with U.S. officials documents for a proposed peace settlement that relate to post-war security guarantees and economic recovery. If American officials approve the proposals, the U.S. and Ukraine could sign the documents next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Russia would still need to be consulted on the proposals.
Russia struck energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Kyiv and Odesa regions overnight into Saturday, the Ministry of Energy said. More than 20 settlements in the Kyiv region were left without power following the attacks, the ministry wrote.
