Efforts spearheaded by Trump to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- launched more than four years ago -- have been derailed by fighting in the Middle East. Zelensky's comments came after meetings this week in the United States between US representatives and Ukraine's lead negotiator Rustem Umerov. "We are coordinating the schedule of necessary visits and expect representatives of the American President at the turn of spring-summer," Zelensky wrote in a statement on social media.

"We hope that this time it will be possible to realize the plans and activate diplomacy," Zelensky said. The United States mediated several rounds of direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian teams that ultimately failed to bring about any significant breakthroughs on ending the war. Those talks were derailed with the onset of US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 and its retaliatory attacks on targets in countries in the region. Zelensky said that the talks in the United States with Umerov had touched on further prisoner exchanges and security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has become the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and displacing millions. Kyiv and Moscow are at odds over a raft of issues in the talks, particularly the fate of the eastern Donbas region that the Kremlin claims is part of Russia, even though Ukraine retains control over swathes of the industrial territory. (Bssnews)