US and Ukraine to hold highest level talks in weeks with no end in sight to Russia's war
Source: CNN World
Updated 8:29 AM EDT, Thu April 17, 2025
CNN — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s international envoy, are set to meet Ukrainian officials in Paris at a summit Thursday aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s defenses against Russia’s unrelenting invasion.
If Trump’s pledge to end the war in a day was far-fetched, the hope to secure a full truce by Easter – this weekend – also looks likely to fail. Russia has ramped up its strikes on Ukraine in recent weeks, despite Washington’s overtures to Moscow.
Those overtures have so far largely sidelined European powers and Kyiv, meaning Thursday’s summit will be the highest level meeting of Ukrainian and US officials in weeks. Ukraine’s foreign minister and defense minister arrived in the French capital for the latest summit of the “coalition of the willing,” a cluster of Western nations pledging to defend Ukraine against Russia in the face of dwindling and uncertain US military backing. Andriy Yermak, a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the ministers are “working on critical issues for the security of Ukraine and all of Europe.”
For Ukraine’s European allies, the summit offers a chance to gauge the Trump administration’s thinking on the war in Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies have been alarmed by Trump’s and Witkoff’s parroting of Kremlin talking points, and may view the talks as a chance to disrupt and dislodge those perceptions.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/17/europe/us-ukraine-talks-europe-peace-intl/index.html
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