MIAMI: Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov will on Thursday (May 7) meet his US counterparts in Florida in a bid to revive mostly frozen talks on ending Russia’s invasion, Kyiv and Washington said.
US-mediated talks on ending Europe’s worst conflict since World War II have shown little progress since February, when Washington shifted focus to its war against Iran.
“The Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine will hold a series of meetings today with envoys of the President of the United States,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, referring to Umerov.
“First, the humanitarian track. We hope it will be possible to carry out a new stage of the release of prisoners. Second, the reinvigoration of the diplomatic process,” Zelenskyy added.
The White House later confirmed Zelenskyy’s announcement, saying Umerov would meet with US officials in Miami.
Umerov last met US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Florida between March 21-22.
The Thursday meeting will come just days after the US announced the approval of a relatively rare sale of weaponry to Kyiv – a US$373.6 million deal for extended-range bomb kits and related equipment.
