President Donald Trump's advisers held talks on Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and national security advisers from the UK, France and Germany to discuss the next steps in ending Russia's war in Ukraine, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said.
"We focused on how to move the discussions forward in a practical way on behalf of @POTUS' peace process, including strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart," Witkoff said in a social media post.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Ukraine's top negotiator Rustem Umerov also participated.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that national security advisers from Kyiv's "Coalition of the Willing" backers would meet in Ukraine on Saturday, and then country leaders would gather in France on January 6.
The Coalition grouping led by Britain and France includes more than 30 nations, though it was not immediately clear which would be taking part in the meetings.
President Donald Trump said talks with Iran to end the war could soon resume and end in a deal, telling the world to watch out for an "amazing two days", while US forces imposing a blockade turned back vessels leaving Iranian ports.
At least 17 people died and 36 others were injured following a suspected boiler explosion at a power plant operated by India's Vedanta Ltd in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, a government official said on Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted a rare meeting between Israeli and Lebanese envoys in Washington on Tuesday, saying he hoped the two countries would agree to a framework for a peace process, even as Israel pressed its war on Hezbollah.
Negotiating teams from the US and Iran could return to Islamabad this week to resume talks to end the war, sources told Reuters on Tuesday, after the collapse of weekend negotiations prompted Washington to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.
Around 250 people were missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea, the United Nations' refugee and migration agencies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.