The United States has granted Ukraine and Russia until June to reach an agreement to end the nearly four-year-old war, President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters.
Zelensky made these statements in the context of Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure forcing nuclear plants to reduce production on Saturday.
If the June deadline is not met, the Trump administration will likely exert pressure on both parties to adhere to it, he added.
"Americans propose that the parties end the war by early summer and will likely exert pressure on the parties in accordance with this timetable," Zelensky said, speaking to reporters on Friday. Zelensky's comments were under embargo until Saturday morning, AP reported.
"And they say they want to do everything by June. And they will do everything to end the war. And they want a clear calendar of all events," he said.
Zelensky also stated that the US has proposed to host the next round of trilateral talks next week in their country for the first time, likely in Miami. "We confirmed our participation," he added.
According to Zelensky, Russia has presented the US with a $12 trillion economic proposal - which he called the "Dmitriev package," named after Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Bilateral economic agreements with the US are part of a broader negotiation process.
Russia continues strong attacks
Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure continued with over 400 drones and approximately 40 rockets launched on Saturday night, Zelensky said in a post on X. Targets included the energy network, power generation facilities, and distribution networks.
Ukrenergo, the state operator for energy transportation, stated that this was the second massive attack on energy infrastructure since the beginning of the year, forcing nuclear plants to reduce production. Eight facilities in eight regions were targeted, as stated in a release.
"As a result of rocket attacks on high-voltage power stations supplying nuclear units, all nuclear plants in the controlled territories were forced to reduce their load," the release stated.
It is mentioned that the country's electricity deficit has increased "significantly" due to the attacks, leading to extended power outages in all regions of Ukraine.
No progress in Abu Dhabi
The latest deadline follows trilateral discussions mediated by the US in Abu Dhabi, which have not led to any progress, as the warring parties stick to mutually exclusive demands. Russia pressures Ukraine to withdraw from Donbas, where fighting remains intense - a condition that Kiev says it will never accept.
"The difficult issues have remained difficult. Ukraine has once again confirmed its position on the Donbas issue. 'We stand by our positions' is, in our view, the most fair and reliable model for a ceasefire at this time," Zelensky said. He reiterated that the most difficult topics will be reserved for a trilateral leaders' meeting.
Zelensky stated that no consensus has been reached on the management of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, controlled by Russia, and expressed skepticism about the US proposal to transform the Donbas region, coveted by Russia, into a free economic zone as a compromise.
"I don't know if this can be implemented because when we discussed a free economic zone, we had different opinions on this," he said.
He said that in the last round of negotiations, negotiators discussed how a ceasefire would be technically monitored. He added that the US reaffirmed its role in this process.
In recent months, Russia's repeated airstrikes have focused on Ukraine's power grid, causing power outages and disrupting the supply of heat and water to families during an extremely cold winter, putting even more pressure on Kiev.