The United States has set a June target for ending the Russia-Ukraine war and proposed Miami as the venue for next week’s peace talks, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This development signals heightened American involvement in facilitating a settlement.
Speaking to reporters in statements made public early Saturday, Zelensky disclosed that this would mark the first time Washington has offered to host Ukrainian and Russian negotiating teams on American territory. The proposal indicates the US is willing to assume a more direct and visible role in mediating between the adversaries. “They say that they want to do everything by June,” Zelensky emphasized, highlighting the ambitious deadline established by US mediators.
The planned Miami session would constitute the third round of US-brokered negotiations, following two previous meetings in Abu Dhabi that commenced in January. The Abu Dhabi talks achieved one significant success—a major prisoner exchange—but made no progress on the central territorial disputes fueling the conflict. Russia maintains military control over roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory and is demanding both recognition of this occupation and further territorial gains in the strategically important Donetsk region.
Ukrainian authorities have categorically opposed any territorial concessions, maintaining that ceding territory would violate sovereignty and reward military aggression. Moscow has declared its territorial conditions non-negotiable and has warned it will pursue military solutions if negotiations do not deliver favorable outcomes. This fundamental disagreement on territory represents the most significant barrier to achieving a lasting peace agreement.
The diplomatic push continues amid ongoing hostilities. Zelensky announced on Saturday that Russian forces had struck facilities critical to Ukraine’s nuclear power plant operations the night before. The strikes caused reductions in power generation at several nuclear reactor units, with one unit undergoing an automatic emergency shutdown. Zelensky condemned the attacks as unprecedented acts of terrorism and insisted that Russia must demonstrate commitment to negotiations by ending attacks on essential civilian infrastructure.
