KYIV: A delegation of top Ukrainian officials landed in Washington on Tuesday for talks with US officials on defence and economic issues, a day after the latest round of direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
Kyiv’s delegation will meet with US President Donald Trump’s team after Monday’s talks with Russia — a second round of direct negotiations held in Istanbul — ended without a breakthrough.
Trump has become frustrated with both Kyiv and Moscow as the United States tries, so far with little apparent progress, to end the more than three-year war between the neighbours.
“We plan to talk about defence support and the situation on the battlefield, strengthening sanctions against Russia,“ Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top aide, said on social media.
Yermak said the delegation is headed by Ukraine’s economy minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, and also includes defence officials.
He said the Ukrainians will meet with Republican and Democrat officials as well as with “the team of US President Donald Trump”.
They will also discuss the issue of the “return of deported Ukrainian children by Russia”, Yermak said.
During Monday’s talks, Kyiv said it passed on to Russia a list of hundreds of Ukrainian children that it says were forcibly taken by Russia during its invasion.
Trump, who promised to end the war in Ukraine swiftly when he returned to the White House in January, has repeatedly expressed anger at both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky as the conflict drags on.
