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LAST UPDATE | 16 Jan
UKRAINE AND THE United States will hold talks in Miami tomorrow to discuss security guarantees and Ukraine’s economic recovery, Kyiv’s ambassador to the US has confirmed.
The negotiations led by head of the presidential office Kyrylo Budanov and defence council secretary Rustem Umerov will take place “tomorrow, in Miami” ambassador Olga Stefanishyna said, without specifying who will join from the US side.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that he hopes Ukraine will sign agreements with the United States next week on a plan to end Russia’s invasion, but lashed out at slow ammunition deliveries from abroad.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for a halt to the war and has pressured Ukraine to accept peace terms that Kyiv has likened to capitulation to Russia.
Key sticking points remain between Kyiv and Washington, and Ukraine has been seeking clarity from allies about what security guarantees it will receive as part of the plan, which it believes are vital to deter Russia from invading again.
Zelenskyy told reporters that Ukrainian negotiators were on their way to the United States for further talks.
“We hope there will be more clarity both regarding the documents we have already effectively prepared with the American side and regarding Russia’s response to all the diplomatic work that is underway,” Zelenskyy added.
“If everything is finalised and if there is agreement from the American side – because on our side, in principle, I believe we’re done – then signing during Davos will be possible,” he added, referring to the World Economic Forum next week.
Zelenskyy also conceded problems with Ukrainian air defence systems at a critical moment in the war.
Some air defence systems supplied to Ukraine by Western allies had run out of ammunition amid a wave of Russian attacks that have devastated his country’s energy infrastructure, he said.
Kyiv says more than 15,000 energy workers are racing in sub-zero temperatures to restore power plants and substations battered over recent days by hundreds of Russian drones and missiles.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on allies to beef up Ukraine’s air defence systems to shield vital civilian infrastructure facilities from daily Russian bombardments.
“Until this morning, we had several systems without missiles. Today I can say this openly because today I have those missiles,” Zelenskyy told a press conference in Kyiv.
The attacks have spurred urgent humanitarian concerns, with millions of Ukrainians suffering long periods without electricity and heating during a cold snap in which temperatures have dropped to -20 degrees in some parts of the country.
The Kremlin claims its forces only target military facilities.
When it has bombed Ukrainian power plants in previous years, it has blamed civilians’ hardships on Kyiv and its refusal to accept Russian peace demands.
AFP journalists in Kyiv – one of the worst-hit cities – have seen chaos at intersections where traffic lights are off, shops and restaurants closed, and residents warming up and charging phones in emergency tents set up by the state.
Ukraine relies on its Western partners for several vital advanced air defence systems – including US-made Patriot batteries.
But Zelenskyy said during a press conference with Czech President Petr Pavel that all of those units “require constant supplies of missiles”.
He urged both European allies and the United States to up deliveries.
“We received a substantial package in the morning. It’s in Ukraine now and we can talk about it.
“But it comes at such cost — through effort, blood, people’s lives,” the Ukrainian leader added.
After nearly four years of fighting, Russian forces are both pummelling Ukrainian cities and steadily advancing across the sprawling front line.
On Friday, Moscow said its forces captured two more villages in the eastern Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Russian bombardments meanwhile killed two people in the central industrial city of Nikopol, local Ukrainian officials announced.
In Kyiv, the government is still scrambling to respond to one of the worst and most prolonged energy outages since Russia invaded.
“Russia is betting that it can break us through energy terror,” Ukraine’s new energy minister, Denys Shmygal, told parliament on Friday.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced that the government had fuel reserves for 20 days.
Meanwhile, Kyiv is easing strict curfew rules that were put in place at the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February 2022 to allow Ukrainians to access emergency hubs providing heating and electricity.
Shmygal ordered state companies to ratchet up their own electricity imports from abroad today to help ease the load on consumers.
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