Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday (March 22, 2026) said the two-day talks with the US on ways to end the Russian war were concluded in Florida, but without the representatives from Moscow participating.
The Russian delegation was expected to join the discussions that were originally scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, but did not turn up.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner were present at the talks.
“It is clear that the US side’s attention at the moment is focused primarily on the situation surrounding Iran and the wider region, but Russia’s war against Ukraine must also be brought to an end,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address.
“There are indications that further (prisoner of war) exchanges may take place, which would indeed be very good news and confirmation that diplomacy is working. We hope this will come to fruition,” he added.
Zelenskyy did not share many details on whether the talks would continue or when and where the next round might take place, and in what format.
He, earlier, asked the allies to continue the sanctions on Russia and called for tougher measures against the so-called shadow fleet of tankers that defy the sanctions, to deny Moscow its oil revenues.
“Russia’s shadow fleet must not feel safe in European waters or anywhere else. Tankers that serve the war budget can and must be stopped and blocked, not just let go,” he added.
The US had recently lifted some sanctions on Russian oil traffic to ease the supply shortages caused by the West Asian war, while the European nations continue to impose the sanctions, without relenting.
The US peace plan currently includes a presidential poll in Ukraine, as Zelenskyy’s tenure has already ended, apart from territorial concessions to Russia.
Zelenskyy is under renewed pressure from Trump to hold the elections to elect the next Ukrainian president, even as Washington pushes Kyiv to agree to the peace deal.
However, Ukrainian laws do not permit elections during war. But Zelenskyy had said Ukraine would be ready to hold the democratic exercise if the US secured a two-month ceasefire with Russia, providing time for preparations, and putting in place security guarantees for Kyiv.
Ukraine’s former top military general, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, noted that Ukraine wouldn’t need a pause in the war to hold the elections.
“What Ukraine needs is not time to prepare for and hold elections, but a peace won through war, which will secure a future for our children,” he wrote in an article published on Sunday (March 22) by Ukrainian news outlet NV.
Zaluzhnyi, at present Kyiv’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, is seen as a possible presidential candidate.