Zelenskyy: Trump Meeting in Near Future12/26 06:15

   A meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump will happen "in the near future," 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday, signaling progress in 
talks to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- A meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump will happen 
"in the near future," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday, 
signaling progress in talks to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and 
Ukraine.

   "We are not losing a single day. We have agreed on a meeting at the highest 
level -- with President Trump in the near future," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

   "A lot can be decided before the New Year," he added.

   Zelenskyy's announcement came after he said Thursday he had a "good 
conversation" with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law 
Jared Kushner.

   Trump has unleashed a diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have 
run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

   Zelenskyy said Tuesday he would be willing to withdraw troops from the 
country's eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if 
Moscow also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by 
international forces.

   Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday 
that there had been "slow but steady progress" in the peace talks, Russia has 
given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it 
has seized.

   In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory 
it still holds in the Donbas -- an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia 
has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk -- the two areas that 
make up the Donbas.

   On the ground, one person was killed and three others wounded when a guided 
aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, while six people were 
wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman, local officials said Friday.

   Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into 
Friday left part of the city without power. Energy and port infrastructure were 
damaged by drones in the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.

   Meanwhile, Ukraine said it struck a major Russian oil refinery Thursday 
using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

   Ukraine's General Staff said its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in 
Russia's Rostov region. "Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was 
hit," it wrote on Telegram.

   Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said a firefighter was wounded when 
extinguishing the fire.

   Ukraine's long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive 
Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. 
Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians 
access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an 
attempt to "weaponize winter."