Zelensky Says US Pushes for June Peace with Florida Set as Diplomatic Epicenter

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed that the United States aims to conclude the Russia-Ukraine war by June and has proposed hosting the next round of peace talks in Miami. This announcement reflects intensified American efforts to make Florida the diplomatic epicenter for peace.
Speaking to reporters in comments made public early Saturday, Zelensky disclosed that this would be the first occasion where the US has offered to host Ukrainian and Russian negotiating teams on American territory. The proposal signals Washington’s willingness to play a more prominent and active role in facilitating negotiations between the adversaries. “They say that they want to do everything by June,” Zelensky noted, emphasizing the compressed timeline for peace efforts.
The planned Miami session would be the third round of US-brokered negotiations, building on two previous meetings in Abu Dhabi that commenced in January. While the Abu Dhabi talks successfully facilitated a major prisoner exchange, they made no progress on the territorial disputes at the heart of the conflict. Russia maintains control over roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory and is demanding formal authority over additional land in the strategically vital Donetsk region.
Kyiv has categorically opposed any territorial concessions, maintaining that sovereign boundaries cannot be compromised under military pressure. Russian officials have characterized their territorial requirements as non-negotiable and have warned they will pursue military options if negotiations do not deliver acceptable outcomes. This fundamental disagreement on borders continues to prevent meaningful progress toward a lasting peace agreement.
The diplomatic push proceeds amid ongoing combat operations. In a video released Saturday, Zelensky reported that Russian forces had struck facilities critical to Ukraine’s nuclear power plant operations the previous night. The attacks caused several nuclear reactor units to reduce their power generation, with one unit automatically shutting down. Zelensky described the strikes as unprecedented terrorism and insisted that Russia must prove its commitment to negotiations by ending attacks on essential civilian infrastructure.