Ukraine on Saturday hosted senior security advisers from allied nations in Kyiv for high-level talks aimed at advancing diplomatic efforts to end the war with Russia, as fighting and political tensions continue to intensify.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said representatives from about 15 countries took part in the meeting, alongside officials from the European Union and NATO, while a United States delegation joined virtually.
The discussions are expected to feed into a broader meeting of leaders from the so-called “coalition of the willing,” scheduled to hold in France next week, as Kyiv seeks stronger international backing for a negotiated settlement.
The talks follow Zelensky’s New Year’s Eve address in which he said a US-backed peace framework was about 90 per cent complete, though he acknowledged that sensitive territorial issues remain unresolved.
Russia currently occupies nearly one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory and has continued near-daily missile and drone attacks, killing thousands of civilians and displacing millions. Kyiv has accused Moscow of undermining diplomatic initiatives to consolidate further territorial gains.
Moscow, however, has blamed Ukraine for derailing peace efforts, accusing Kyiv of carrying out a “terrorist attack” after a New Year strike on a hotel in Kherson killed 28 people. Ukrainian authorities said the strike targeted a military gathering, a claim that could not be independently verified.
As diplomacy continues, the humanitarian situation remains dire. Ukraine has ordered the evacuation of more than 3,000 children and their parents from frontline communities in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, with officials saying over 150,000 people have been evacuated from frontline areas since June.
Meanwhile, Russian advances have accelerated. Analysts say Moscow captured more Ukrainian territory in 2025 than in any year since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, though gains remain far below those recorded in the war’s first year.
Ahead of the January 6 summit in France, Zelensky reshuffled his cabinet, appointing military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov as head of the presidential office and nominating Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov for the defence portfolio, citing the need for sharper focus on security, defence and diplomacy.
