WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Top Trump administration officials are meeting Ukrainian negotiators in Florida this weekend, pushing to broker an end to Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine and setting the stage for key talks planned this week in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, were expected to sit down with a Ukrainian delegation to further hash out the details of a proposed peace framework \u2014 talks that come at a sensitive moment for Ukraine as it continues to push back against Russian forces that invaded the country in 2022.<\/p>\n
On Friday, just before the Florida sit-down, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> announced the resignation of his powerful chief of staff, Andrii Yermak<\/a>, who up until that point had been the country\u2019s lead negotiator in talks with the U.S<\/a>.<\/p>\n The announcement came after Yermak\u2019s home was searched by anti-corruption<\/a> investigators. Zelenskyy\u2019s government has been roiled by fallout from a scandal over $100 million<\/a> embezzled from the energy sector through kickbacks paid by contractors, causing newfound domestic pressures for Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n It was only a week ago that Rubio had met with Yermak in Geneva, with each side saying the talks had been positive in putting together a revised peace plan.<\/p>\n Now, the Ukrainian delegation includes Andrii Hnatov<\/a>, the head of Ukraine\u2019s armed forces; Andrii Sybiha<\/a>, Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister; and Rustem Umerov<\/a>, head of Ukraine\u2019s security council, Zelenskyy has said.<\/p>\n Diplomats have been focused on revisions to Trump\u2019s proposed 28-point plan<\/a> developed in negotiations between Washington and Moscow. That plan was criticized as being too weighted toward Russian demands. It had initially envisioned Ukraine ceding the entire eastern region of the Donbas<\/a> to Russia \u2014 a sticking point for Kyiv.<\/p>\n The plan \u2014 which Trump has since downplayed as a \u201cconcept\u201d or a \u201cmap\u201d to be \u201cfine-tuned\u201d \u2014 would also impose limits on the size of Ukraine\u2019s military, block the country from joining NATO, and require Ukraine to hold elections in 100 days. Negotiators have indicated the framework has changed, but it\u2019s not clear how its provisions have been altered.<\/p>\n Trump said on Tuesday that he would send Witkoff and perhaps Kushner to Moscow this week to meet with Putin about the plan. Both Witkoff and Kushner, like Trump, hail from the world of real estate that values dealmaking over the conventions of diplomacy. The pair also were behind a 20-point proposal<\/a> that led to a ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n