Ukraine, US hold talks on state of peace efforts as Trump's focus shifts to Iran

Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

President Volodymyr Zelensky and his team are holding online talks with U.S. officials, a source in the Presidential Office said on April 1, without providing further details.

The negotiations are expected to assess the current state of peace efforts and the prospects for a future trilateral meeting with Russia.

Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council; U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner; and NATO chief Mark Rutte would attend the talks, Zelensky said earlier.

The president also said he would discuss with the U.S. Kyiv's proposal for an Easter ceasefire with Russia, which would include a mutual pause on strikes against energy infrastructure. Orthodox Easter falls on April 12.

The Kremlin has already rejected the initiative and launched fresh attacks against Ukraine overnight on April 1 and later during the day, targeting energy infrastructure facilities and other civilian targets.

"We proposed a ceasefire for Easter — in response, we're getting 'shaheds,'" Zelensky said.

Before the talks with the U.S., Umerov met Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and other senior officials in Ankara on March 31 to discuss security cooperation and peace efforts, namely, prisoner exchanges.

Turkey has been a key broker in Ukraine-Russia talks, hosting several rounds of negotiations last year.

The U.S.-mediated negotiations have made little tangible progress in recent months as Russia pushes territorial demands while Washington's focus shifts to the war with Iran.

Zelensky said earlier that the Trump administration is pressing for a swift end to the war, emphasizing that Kyiv will not agree to any outcome that compromises Ukraine's interests.

The Ukrainian president alleged that Washington tied its proposed security guarantees to Kyiv's withdrawal from the Donbas region, an assertion U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected as a lie.

U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators previously met in Miami in late March, more than a month after the last trilateral meeting with Russia in Geneva.

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