KYIV: Russian drones struck a house in central Ukraine, killing a 12-year-old boy, officials said, while long-range Ukrainian strikes reportedly targeted a Russian port and an oil refinery as US peace efforts continued out of public view.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s meeting in Florida on Thursday with Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s lead negotiator, was “productive,” according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The American and Ukrainian officials were due to brief their respective leaders on Friday and reconvene for further talks later in the day , the official added.
The talks came after discussions between President Vladimir Putin and the US envoys at the Kremlin on Tuesday.
Previous diplomatic attempts to break the deadlock have come to nothing and the nearly four-year war has continued unabated. Officials largely have kept a lid on how the latest talks are going, though Trump’s initial 28-point plan was leaked.
