Ukrainian Officials, Trump Envoys Meet 02/25 06:00

   A Ukrainian delegation is set to meet Thursday with American envoys in the 
run-up to another round of trilateral talks with Russia, Ukraine President 
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- A Ukrainian delegation is set to meet Thursday with 
American envoys in the run-up to another round of trilateral talks with Russia, 
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

   Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary, is 
due to hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, and 
Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Zelenskyy told reporters in a media chat 
Wednesday.

   The meeting will take place in Geneva, Umerov's press secretary Diana 
Davytian said.

   The Swiss city is also expected to host on the same day a round of nuclear 
talks between the United States and Iran.

   A U.S. push for peace has already brought Russia and Ukraine to the table in 
Abu Dhabi and Geneva this year, but the talks have produced no breakthrough on 
bridging key differences as Russia's all-out invasion of its neighbor enters 
its fifth year.

   Thursday's meeting will address details of a possible postwar recovery plan 
for Ukraine and discuss preparations for an upcoming trilateral meeting with 
Moscow officials, Zelenskyy said, adding that he has also tasked Umerov with 
discussing a possible prisoner exchange.

   Ukraine wants the talks with Russia to take place next week, he said.

   In a defiant stance Tuesday, amid events marking the fourth anniversary of 
Russia's invasion, Zelenskyy noted that Russia has not defeated Ukraine nor 
broken the Ukrainian spirit, despite its bigger and better equipped army and 
heavy bombardment of civilian areas.

   Ukrainian forces have in recent months pushed back Russia's army at points 
along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line in eastern areas of the 
country, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

   The "significant gains" are the biggest since 2024, the Washington-based 
think tank said, though they are unlikely to grow into major offensives as 
Ukraine struggles with a troop shortage. Even so, they likely will disrupt 
Russian plans for a spring-summer offensive, it said.

   Ukraine has also continued its almost nightly long-range drone barrage of 
military and allied infrastructure targets deep inside Russia.

   The U.S. State Department has expressed its displeasure with Ukraine's 
recent attacks on the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea that 
have impacted U.S. oil interests in Kazakhstan, Kyiv's chief envoy to 
Washington said Tuesday.

   Early Wednesday, four workers of the Dorogobuzh fertilizer plant in western 
Russia's Smolensk region were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack and another 10 
were injured, Gov. Vasily Anokhin said. He said that the attack sparked a fire 
at the plant.

   Ukrainian authorities, meanwhile, said Russia attacked with 115 strike 
drones overnight.

   In a village in the southern Zaporizhzhia district, a strike killed four 
people and injured a child, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.