US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press at the US Mission to International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland on Sunday, November 23, 2025.
Marshall Trezzini/Keystone/AP
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Marshall Trezzini/Keystone/AP
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida – Top Trump administration officials are meeting with Ukrainian negotiators in Florida this weekend, pushing to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and setting the stage for major talks planned with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow this week.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected to sit down with a Ukrainian delegation to hammer out details of a proposed peace framework — talks that come at a sensitive moment for Ukraine as it continues efforts to push back against Russian forces planning to invade the country in 2022.
On Friday, just before the Florida holdout, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the resignation of his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who until then was the country’s lead negotiator in talks with the US.
The announcement came after anti-corruption investigators searched Yermak’s home. Zelensky’s government has been dogged by a scandal involving the embezzlement of $100 million from the energy sector through bribes paid to contractors, creating new domestic pressures for Zelensky.
Rubio had met with Yermak in Geneva just a week earlier, with each side saying the talks had been positive in putting together a revised peace plan.
Now, the Ukrainian delegation includes Andrey Hnatov, head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha; and the head of Ukraine’s Security Council, Rustam Umerov, Zelensky said.
Diplomats are focused on amendments to Trump’s proposed 28-point plan developed in talks between Washington and Moscow. That plan was criticized as being overly sensitive to Russian demands. It initially envisioned Ukraine handing over the entire eastern region of Donbass to Russia – a sticking point for Kiev.
The plan – which Trump has downplayed as a “concept” or a “map” to be “fine-tuned” – would also place limits on the size of Ukraine’s military, prevent the country from joining NATO, and require Ukraine to hold elections in 100 days. Negotiators have indicated that the framework has changed, but it is not clear how its provisions have been changed.
Trump said Tuesday he would send Witkoff and perhaps Kushner to Moscow this week to meet with Putin about the plan. Both Witkoff and Kushner, like Trump, come from a world of real estate that values bargains over the conventions of diplomacy. The pair were also behind the 20-point proposal that led to a ceasefire in Gaza.
Zelensky wrote on X that the Ukrainian delegation would “work swiftly and concretely on the necessary steps to end the war.”
In an overnight address on Saturday, Zelensky said the US side was “demonstrating a constructive approach.”
“It is possible to take steps in the coming days to determine how to bring the war to an honorable end,” he said.
At least three people were killed and dozens injured in Russian drone and missile attacks in and around the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Saturday, officials said. One person was killed and 19 others, including four children, were injured in the latest attacks on Sunday night when a drone targeted a nine-storey apartment block in the city of Vyshhorod in the Kyiv region, local authorities said.
In a post on Telegram on Sunday, Zelensky said Russia had attacked Ukraine with 122 strike drones and ballistic missiles.
Zelensky said, “Such attacks occur daily. This week alone, the Russians have used approximately 1,400 strike drones, 1,100 guided aerial bombs, and 66 missiles against our people. That is why we must strengthen Ukraine’s resilience every day. Missile and air defense systems are essential, and we must actively work with our allies for peace.”
“We need real, credible solutions that will help end the war,” he said.
Kazakhstan on Sunday called on Ukraine to end attacks on the Black Sea terminal, after Ukraine claimed responsibility for damaging a major oil terminal on Saturday near the Russian port of Novorossiysk, owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. The CPC pipeline, which originates in Kazakhstan and terminates at the Novorossiysk terminal, handles a large share of Kazakhstan’s oil exports.
“We view what happened as an action that harms the bilateral relations of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and we expect the Ukrainian side to take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future,” Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
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