Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is to hold talks with US President Donald Trump in what could be the most consequential meeting in the country's recent history, while Russia continued its deadly air assaults against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and towns.
The White House has not commented directly on the December 28 talks, but in its daily schedule, it listed a meeting between the two leaders at 1 p.m. in Palm Beach, Florida, as the sides look to hammer out a peace deal to end Russia's war on Ukraine.
An earlier schedule put the meeting at 3 p.m. There wasn't an immediate explanation for the time change.
Zelenskyy arrives in the United States after visiting Halifax, Canada, where he met with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who offered support for Ukraine ahead of the crucial US talks, saying that Russia's "barbarism...shows just how important it is that we stand with Ukraine."
Zelenskyy also held a conference call with European leaders. After the session, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen called for "a just and lasting peace that preserves Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
The Ukrainian leader said he will again hold talks with European leaders after he meets with Trump as he urged the West to take a strong stand to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin "from manipulating and evading a real and just end to the war."
Ukraine's 20-Point Peace Plan
Zelenskyy -- with Europe's backing -- has proposed a 20-point plan to end Russia's war on his country, after earlier scrambling to counter a 28-point plan put forward by Trump in November that critics said was heavily skewed in Russia's favor.
One of the critical issues at the heart of current negotiations is the fate of the eastern Donbas region.
Most of that territory is under Russian control, and Moscow has demanded that Kyiv turn over that parts Russia does not hold. That includes two major cities -- Kramatorsk and Slovyansk -- which are linchpins for Ukrainian defenses in the area.
The other critical issue is the fate of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant. The Zaporizhzhya region facility, which was Ukraine's largest single source of electricity, has been under Russian control since shortly after the start of the all-out invasion in February 2022.
Zelenskyy has proposed putting the plant under joint control between Ukraine and the United States, with Washington netting profits from the sale of the plant’s electricity -- including potentially to Moscow.
"Ukraine did not start this war. Russia started it. Ukraine supported President Trump’s proposal for a cease-fire. Ukraine has agreed to many different compromises, and this is documented in our draft agreements, in our 20-point plan," Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
The Kremlin, which believes it has the upper hand both on the battlefield and in the peace negotiations, has showed little willingness to compromise on its hard-line demands -- most of which predate the invasion.
Russia Claims Towns Taken
Ahead of the Zelenskyy-Trump meeting, Russia on December 27 claimed it had captured two additional towns in eastern Ukraine -- Myrnohrad and
.
Myrnohrad, in Ukraine's Donetsk, is close to Pokrovsk, an important logistical hub that Moscow has prioritized for nearly a year and claimed to have captured earlier this month. Hulyaypole is a frontline town in the Zaporizhzhya region.
"If the authorities in Kyiv don't want to settle this business peacefully, we'll resolve all the problems before us by military means," Putin said.
Russian claims could not immediately be verified. The Ukrainian military said it had beaten back Russian attacks on Myrnohrad and Hulyaipole.
Overnight on December 26-27, a Russian drone and missile strike on Kyiv killed two people and wounded at least 28 others, Ukrainian officials said.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said large swaths of city districts on the eastern banks of the Dnieper River were without power and water.
Ukraine's largest private power company said nearly a third of Kyiv had been left without electricity, later adding that 500,000 families were impacted following the Russian attack.
"Today, Russia demonstrated its reaction to peace negotiations.... They launched a massive attack on Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. "It's the very same Russia demonstrating this while [we're] on the way to peace negotiations."
"They do not want to end the war and seek to use every opportunity to cause Ukraine even greater suffering," he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron — one of Kyiv's key backers, along with the leaders of Britain and Germany — on December 27 reacted to the latest Russia's strikes on the Ukrainian capital, calling them proof that Russia wants to "prolong the war."
Russia denies targeting civilian sites despite widespread evidence of such attacks.
