The US has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach a deal to end the nearly four‑year war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.

If the June deadline is not met, the Trump administration will likely put pressure on both sides to meet it, Mr Zelenskyy said, as Russian strikes on energy infrastructure forced nuclear power plants to cut output on Saturday.

Russia and Ukraine conduct POW swap after latest peace talks

The Kremlin says it sees progress and positive movement in the talks, brokered by the United States, as Donald Trump urges both sides to reach a peace deal.

“The Americans are proposing the parties end the war by the beginning of this summer and will probably put pressure on the parties precisely according to this schedule,” he said.

“And they say that they want to do everything by June and they will do everything to end the war. 

“And they want a clear schedule of all events.”

The US proposed holding the next round of trilateral talks next week in America for the first time, likely in Miami, Mr Zelenskyy said. 

“We confirmed our participation,” he said.

Mr Zelenskyy said Russia presented the US with a $US12 trillion ($17.1 trillion) economic proposal — which he dubbed the “Dmitriev package” after Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev. 

Bilateral economic deals with the US form part of the broader negotiating process.

Strikes continue

Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure continued with more than 400 drones and about 40 missiles launched on Saturday night, Mr Zelenskyy said in a post on X. 

Targets included the energy grid, generation facilities and distribution networks.

Ukrenergo, the state energy transmission operator, said the attack was the second mass strike on energy infrastructure since the start of the year, forcing nuclear power plants to reduce output. 

Eight facilities in eight regions came under attack, it said in a statement.

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The two-day trilateral meeting began after Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had exploited a US-backed energy truce last week to stockpile munitions before attacking Ukraine with a record number of ballistic missiles.

“As a result of missile strikes on key high-voltage substations that ensured the output of nuclear power units, all nuclear power plants in the territories under control were forced to reduce their load,” the statement said.

It said the power deficit in the country has increased “significantly” as a result of the attacks forcing an extension of hourly power outages in all regions of Ukraine.

Ukrainian drones struck a plant that makes missile fuel components in the Tver region of western Russia, an official from Ukraine’s SBU security service said on Saturday.

The official said that components for missile fuel for Russia’s X-55 and X-101 cruise missiles and other elements for diesel and aviation fuel were produced there. 

The drone strike caused a large fire at the plant, the official said.

“Even a temporary shutdown complicates the production of rocket fuel and reduces the enemy’s ability to maintain the intensity of shelling of our cities,” the official said.

‘Difficult issues remained difficult’

The latest deadline follows US-brokered trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi that produced no breakthrough as the warring parties cling to mutually exclusive demands. 

Russia is pressing Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas, where fighting remains intense — a condition Kyiv says it will never accept.

“Difficult issues remained difficult,” Mr Zelenskyy said.

“Ukraine once again confirmed its positions on the Donbas issue. ‘We stand where we stand’ is the fairest and most reliable model for a ceasefire today, in our opinion.” 

Seven killed after Russian cluster munitions attack in Ukraine

Another round of US-brokered talks on ending the almost four-year war began as Russian cluster munitions killed seven people at a market in Ukraine.

He reiterated that the most challenging topics would be reserved for a trilateral meeting between leaders.

Mr Zelenskyy said no common ground was reached on managing the Russian‑held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and expressed skepticism about a US proposal to turn the Donbas region, coveted by Russia, into a free economic zone as a compromise.

“I do not know whether this can be implemented, because when we talked about a free economic zone, we had different views on it,” he said.

He said that, in the most recent round of talks, the negotiators discussed how a ceasefire would be technically monitored and that the US reaffirmed it would play a role in that process.

Repeated Russian aerial assaults have in recent months focused on Ukraine’s power grid, causing blackouts and disrupting the heating and water supply for families during a bitterly cold winter, putting more pressure on Kyiv.

Mr Zelenskyy said the US again proposed a ceasefire banning strikes on energy infrastructure. 

Ukraine is ready to observe such a pause if Russia commits, but he added that when Moscow previously agreed to a one-week pause suggested by the US, it was violated after just four days.

AP/Reuters