Overview
- Zelensky said Washington suggested the first face-to-face format in months involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia, with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev traveling to Miami for meetings led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
- EU leaders approved an approximately €90 billion ($105 billion) two‑year loan for Ukraine funded by borrowing rather than seizing frozen Russian assets, a move welcomed by Kyiv and touted by Moscow as proof asset seizure plans were risky.
- At his annual news conference, Putin claimed Russia is ready for peace but ruled out negotiating territory, reiterated demands covering occupied regions including Crimea, and said Russian forces are advancing along the front.
- Russia’s war continued alongside diplomacy, with Ukrainian officials reporting eight people killed and dozens wounded in a ballistic missile strike near Odesa, and Ukraine claiming deep strikes including a hit on a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean and jets in Crimea.
- Kyiv describes the U.S. peace framework as workable with strong security guarantees, signals openness to suspending NATO ambitions, and insists it will not cede land as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said no deal will be imposed on Ukraine.