KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The United States has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach an agreement to end a nearly four-year war, President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters, as Russian attacks on energy infrastructure forced nuclear power plants to cut output Saturday.
If the June deadline is not met, the Trump administration will press both sides to meet it, he added.
“The Americans are proposing to the parties to end the war as early as this summer and will probably put pressure on the parties to schedule this,” Zelensky said, speaking to reporters on Friday. Zelensky’s comments were restricted as of Saturday morning.
“And they say they want everything done by June. And they will do everything to end the war. And they want a clear schedule of all events,” he said.
He said the United States has proposed the next round of trilateral talks next week in Miami for the first time in his country, Zelensky said. “We have confirmed our participation,” he added.
Zelensky said Russia presented the US with a $12 trillion economic proposal – which he dubbed the “Dmitriev Package” after Russian Ambassador Kirill Dmitriev. Bilateral economic agreements with the US are part of a broader negotiation process.
Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure continued with the launch of more than 400 drones and 40 missiles Saturday night, Zelensky said in a post on X. Targets included energy grids, production facilities and distribution networks.
State energy transmission operator Ukrainergo said the attack was the second mass strike on energy infrastructure since the start of the year, forcing nuclear power plants to cut output. Eight facilities in eight regions were attacked, a statement said.
“As a result of missile attacks on major high-voltage substations that ensure the production of nuclear power units, all nuclear power plants in the controlled areas were forced to reduce their loads,” the statement said.
Power losses in the country have increased “significantly” due to the attack, which has forced the extension of hourly power outages to all regions of Ukraine.
The latest deadline follows US-brokered trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi that failed to achieve any breakthrough as the warring parties stuck to mutually exclusive demands. Russia is pressuring Ukraine to withdraw from Donbas, where fighting is intense – a condition Kiev says it will never accept.
“Difficult issues remained difficult. Ukraine once again confirmed its position on the Donbass issue. ‘We stand where we stand’ is, in our opinion, the most fair and reliable model for a ceasefire today,” Zelenskyy said. He reiterated that the most challenging issues would be reserved for the tripartite meeting between the leaders.
Zelensky expressed doubts about the lack of common ground on the management of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhia nuclear plant and the US proposal to turn the Russian-coveted Donbass region into a free economic zone as a compromise.
“We don’t know if it will be implemented or not, because we had different views when it came to the free economic zone,” he said.
He said that in the last round of negotiations, the negotiators discussed how to technically monitor the ceasefire. He added that the US has reaffirmed its role in the process.
Repeated Russian airstrikes have targeted Ukraine’s power grid in recent months, causing blackouts and disrupting heating and water supplies for families during bitterly cold winters, putting further pressure on Kiev.
Zelensky said the U.S. has proposed a cease-fire banning attacks on energy infrastructure. Ukraine is prepared to observe such a pause if Russia is committed; But he added that while Moscow had previously agreed to a one-week pause suggested by the US, it was violated four days later.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
