Ukraine's President Seeks Peace Talks in Turkey Amid Ongoing War

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is heading to Turkey this week to discuss ending the war with Russia. This war has been going on for nearly four years. However, Russia has said it won't send anyone to these talks. It's also unclear if the U. S. will be involved. Zelenskyy plans to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to talk about a fair peace for Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine has been using American-supplied ATACMS missiles to attack targets inside Russia. This is part of their strategy to protect their own cities from Russian strikes. The Kremlin has warned that using these American weapons could make things worse between Russia and the U. S. A Turkish official initially said that a U. S. special envoy, Steve Witkoff, would join Zelenskyy in Turkey. But later, they said he wouldn't be coming. Zelenskyy didn't confirm if any U. S. representatives would be there. He mentioned seeing some signals from the U. S. but said we'll have to wait and see. The talks in Turkey will focus on how to establish a ceasefire and a lasting settlement. They will also discuss Ukraine-Turkey relations. Turkey has hosted low-level talks between Ukraine and Russia before, but the only big progress was on exchanging prisoners of war. U. S. -led international peace efforts haven't brought any breakthroughs either. The U. S. is also planning heavy new sanctions on Russia's oil industry. These sanctions are meant to push Putin to negotiate. The sanctions target major Russian oil companies like Rosneft and Lukoil. The goal is to cut off funding for Putin's war machine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there would be no Russian representative in Turkey, but Moscow is ready to negotiate. On the battlefield, Ukraine launched a surprise aerial attack on energy infrastructure in occupied parts of its eastern Donetsk region. The Russian-appointed head of the region reported damage to two thermal power stations and power outages. Meanwhile, a 17-year-old girl was killed, and 10 others were wounded in a Russian missile strike in the Kharkiv region. Russian drones also sparked fires in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Back home, Zelenskyy is facing political pressure over a corruption scandal involving top officials and Ukraine's state nuclear power company. The scandal has led to the resignations of two members of his Cabinet. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko demanded the dismissal of the entire Ukrainian government. Zelenskyy has pledged to tackle corruption but has faced several scandals that have caused public outrage.