Revealed On 27 Aug 2025
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has mentioned his officers will meet representatives of United States President Donald Trump in New York as a part of intensified mediation efforts to finish the conflict with Russia.
Talking throughout his nightly tackle on Wednesday, Zelenskyy additionally introduced the appointment of a brand new Ukrainian ambassador to the US, saying former Justice Minister Olha Stefanishyna would substitute Oksana Markarova, who has served within the position since 2021.
Zelenskyy mentioned he had outlined to Stefanishyna “the important thing duties of invigorating the work of our embassy”.
“A lot of Ukraine’s long-term safety is dependent upon relations with America,” he mentioned, including that assuring continued weapons transfers from the US was a high precedence.
US President Donald Trump’s particular envoy, Steve Witkoff, had earlier advised US media he anticipated to carry talks with Ukrainian officers this week.
The US president had met Zelenskyy earlier this month, simply days after holding a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Nonetheless, a proposed assembly between Zelenskyy and Putin has remained elusive, with Zelenskyy on Wednesday decrying “very conceited and detrimental alerts from Moscow concerning the negotiations”.
He referred to as for “stress” to be exerted to “power Russia to take actual steps”.
The Ukrainian chief spoke as his authorities delegation has been touring the Center East and Europe, visiting Qatar on Tuesday and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday earlier than heading to Switzerland on Thursday.
In Riyadh, Zelenskyy’s Chief of Workers Andriy Yermak mentioned in a publish on Telegram that he had met with the Saudi defence minister and nationwide safety adviser.
He mentioned the talks have been targeted on paths to peace in Ukraine and Saudi Arabia’s participation on this course of.
No direct assembly deliberate
Diplomatic exercise has elevated in current weeks to finish Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022.
However regardless of Trump’s August 15 summit with Putin in Alaska and subsequent White Home discussions with Zelenskyy and European leaders, little progress has been made in negotiations.
Putin has repeatedly demanded that any settlement embody Russian management of the Donbas area of Ukraine, a place that Kyiv has roundly rejected.
Trump initially took a combative strategy to Zelenskyy upon taking workplace in January, however has since softened his place whereas voicing rising frustration with Putin.
He has remained sceptical of US support to Ukraine, however earlier this week mentioned that Washington will assure Ukraine’s safety in any take care of Russia.
He has additionally threatened new sanctions on Moscow if talks proceed to stall, however has remained ambiguous about Russia’s territorial ambitions.
Talking to reporters on Tuesday, Trump acknowledged the prospect of a Putin-Zelenskyy assembly remained unsure.
That got here after Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned final week that no such assembly was deliberate, including that Putin can be prepared as soon as a transparent agenda was established.
Zelenskyy had earlier invited Putin to direct talks in Turkiye in Might, however the Russian chief refused.
Preventing grinds on
Amid the diplomatic flurry, preventing continued in Ukraine on Wednesday.
In its day by day replace, Ukraine’s Normal Workers reported that Russian forces launched two missile strikes and 64 air strikes, together with 109 guided aerial bombs, alongside 4,625 shelling assaults.
That included 21 barrages from a number of launch rocket methods (MLRS) and three,891 kamikaze drones.
Air strikes focused Stara Huta within the Sumy area, Bilohiria and Preobrazhenka in Zaporizhia, and Antonivka in Kherson, the assertion mentioned.
Russian forces additionally made floor, taking Zaporizke and Novoheorhiivka in Dnipropetrovsk area, the monitoring group DeepState reported, whereas making features close to Shevchenko, Bila Hora, and Oleksandr-Shultyno.
In the meantime, Russia’s Ministry of Defence mentioned its air defences shot down 191 Ukrainian drones, six guided aerial bombs, and a long-range guided missile in a single day, based on the state information company TASS.