U.S. Envoy Witkoff Meets Kirill Dmitriev Before Abu Dhabi Talks

United States special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Florida and described the sessions as "productive and constructive," saying Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Jared Kushner and White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum also attended, according to his post on X.

The meetings came ahead of a planned second round of U.S.-mediated negotiations in Abu Dhabi between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators to discuss a U.S.-backed plan to end the war, officials said.

President Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure for a week after Mr. Trump personally requested a pause, a claim the Kremlin's remarks later appeared to acknowledge, according to statements from the White House and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

An overnight Russian UAV strike in the city of Dnipro killed a man and a woman, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said in a Telegram post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said negotiators were preparing for talks next week and expected "results," and he said Kyiv was awaiting further information from the United States, in his nightly address.