US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press at the US Mission to International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, November 23, 2025.
Combat Trezzini/Keystone/AP
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Combat Trezzini/Keystone/AP
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Top Trump administration officials are meeting with Ukrainian negotiators in Florida this weekend, seeking to end Russia's war in Ukraine and setting the stage for key talks scheduled for this week in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, were expected to meet with the Ukrainian delegation to further discuss details of the proposed peace agreement – negotiations that come at a sensitive moment for Ukraine as it continues to resist Russian troops invading the country in 2022.
On Friday, shortly before the meeting in Florida, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the resignation of his influential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who until then had been the country's lead negotiator in negotiations with the United States.
The announcement came after Ermak's home was searched by anti-corruption investigators. Zelensky's government has been roiled by the fallout from a scandal involving the theft of more than $100 million from the energy sector through kickbacks paid by contractors, prompting new domestic pressure on Zelensky.
Just a week ago, Rubio met with Yermak in Geneva, and each side said the talks had yielded a positive result in producing a revised peace plan.
Now the Ukrainian delegation includes the head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andrey Gnatov; Andrey Sibiga, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine; and Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's Security Council, Zelensky said.
Diplomats were focused on revising Trump's proposed 28-point plan, developed during negotiations between Washington and Moscow. This plan has been criticized as being too focused on Russian demands. It was initially assumed that Ukraine would cede the entire eastern Donbass region to Russia, which became a stumbling block for Kyiv.
The plan, which Trump has since downplayed as a “concept” or “map” that needs to be “fine-tuned,” would also place limits on the size of the Ukrainian military, block the country from joining NATO and require Ukraine to hold elections in 100 days. Negotiators indicated that the structure had changed, but it was unclear how the provisions had been changed.
Trump said Tuesday that he would send Witkoff and possibly Kushner to Moscow this week to meet with Putin about the plan. Both Witkoff and Kushner, like Trump, come from the world of real estate, where deal-making is more important than diplomatic conventions. The pair were also behind the 20-point proposal that led to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Zelensky wrote on X that the Ukrainian delegation “will quickly and substantively work out the steps necessary to end the war.”
In his Saturday evening address, Zelensky said the American side was “demonstrating a constructive approach.”
“In the coming days it will be possible to specify steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified conclusion,” he said.
Russian drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and its environs killed at least three people and injured dozens more on Saturday, officials said. New attacks on Sunday night killed one person and injured 19, including four children, local authorities said, when a drone crashed into a nine-story apartment building in the city of Vyshgorod in the Kyiv region.
In a Telegram post on Sunday, Zelensky said Russia attacked Ukraine with 122 attack drones and ballistic missiles.
“Attacks like this happen every day. This week alone, the Russians used about 1,400 attack drones, 1,100 guided bombs and 66 missiles against our people. That is why we must strengthen Ukraine’s resilience every day. Missiles and air defense systems are necessary, and we must also actively work with our partners for the sake of peace,” Zelensky said.
“We need real, lasting solutions to help end the war,” he added.
After Ukraine claimed responsibility for damaging a major oil terminal on Saturday near the Russian port of Novorossiysk, owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Kazakhstan on Sunday demanded Ukraine stop attacks on the Black Sea terminal. The CPC pipeline, which starts in Kazakhstan and ends at the Novorossiysk terminal, provides the majority of Kazakhstan's oil exports.
“We view the incident as an action damaging to the bilateral relations of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and we expect that the Ukrainian side will take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future,” the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
