The diplomatic road seeking peace in Ukraine has had twists and turns

It was a weekend of diplomatic announcements on the war in Ukraine.

First, European leaders assembled in Kyiv on Saturday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin for a ceasefire. Then, after midnight, the Kremlin leader surfaced in Moscow to unveil a proposal for talks in Istanbul.

If both Putin and Zelenskyy sit down with each other, it would be a first in the 3-year-old war.

Key events that have shaped efforts to end the war since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022:

Feb. 28, 2022: Ukrainian and Russian delegations meet in neighboring Belarus for the first time after the invasion. Talks continue over the next two weeks, but no apparent agreements emerge other than a decision to set up humanitarian corridors for civilians.

March 21, 2022: Zelenskyy calls for direct talks with Putin but is rebuffed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. A day later, Zelenskyy says he is prepared to discuss a commitment for Ukraine to not to seek NATO membership in exchange for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a guarantee of Ukraine’s security.

March 29, 2022: Talks begin in Istanbul, with Moscow saying it's willing to “fundamentally cut back” military activity near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv, while Ukraine said it was open to discussing neutral status for Ukraine if its security is backed by other nations.

April 7, 2022: Lavrov rejects a Ukrainian peace proposal as “unacceptable. ” He says Kyiv has walked back on an agreement to exempt the Crimean Peninsula from wider Ukrainian security guarantees. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

April 26, 2022: U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres visits Russia to discuss ending the war.

May 13, 2022: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin calls his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, in their first contact since before the start of the war.

July 22, 2022: Russia and Ukraine, with mediation by Turkey and the U.N., agree on a deal to unblock supplies of grain stuck in Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, ending a standoff that threatened global food security. The deal expires a year later.

Sept. 22, 2022: Zelenskyy addresses the U.N. General Assembly, laying out five “nonnegotiable” conditions, including a “just punishment” for Russia.

Sept. 30, 2022: Russia illegally annexes the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, even though it doesn't fully control any of them. Ukraine responds by applying to join NATO and by enacting a decree that declares negotiations with Putin “impossible”.

Nov. 15, 2022: Zelenskyy unveils a 10-point peace plan at the G20 summit in Indonesia.

June 25, 2023: Officials from 15 countries, including the U.S., the European Union, India, Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss Zelenskyy’s peace plan.

Aug. 5, 2023: Two days of discussions on the war begin in Saudi Arabia with delegates from 40 countries, but not Russia. No joint statements are issued.

Oct. 28, 2023: Delegates from 65 countries meet in Malta to continue talks on Zelenskyy's peace plan. Russia, which has dismissed the talks, was not invited.

June 15, 2024: Representatives of 92 nations meet in Nidwalden, Switzerland, to discuss Ukraine’s peace plan. Despite the growing number of delegates, a consensus remains elusive. The summit’s final statement is backed by most – although not all – participants.

Dec. 7, 2024: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump travels to Paris and meets Zelenskyy and other European leaders.

Feb 12. 2025: Trump and Putin speak directly via telephone and agree to begin negotiations on ending Ukraine war in a phone call that abruptly ended a three-year U.S.-led effort to isolate Putin over Ukraine.

Feb. 18, 2025: Russian and U.S. officials, including Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meet in Saudi Arabia and agree to work toward ending the war, as well as restoring bilateral ties. Ukrainian officials are not invited.

Feb. 28, 2025: Zelenskyy meets with Trump, Rubio and Vice President JD Vance in the White House but tensions break out in the Oval Office and a proposed minerals deal between the countries is left unsigned.

March 11, 2025: U.S. and Ukrainian officials meet in Saudi Arabia, with American officials putting forward a plan for a 30-day ceasefire. Kyiv agrees to the proposed truce.

March 13, 2025: Putin effectively rejects the ceasefire plan, stating certain issues still must be resolved. He also meets with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow. Witkoff would travel to Russia two more times in April to meet Putin.

March 18, 2025: A proposal is put forward for a temporary halt on strikes on energy infrastructure. Both sides agree to the plan, but soon accuse each other of violations, and the measure later expires.

April 19, 2025: Putin announces a 30-hour ceasefire to mark the Easter holiday, although attacks continue across Ukraine.

April 28, 2025: The Kremlin declares a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire starting May 8 to mark Russia's Victory Day celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Kyiv does not agree, preferring a 30-day truce proposed by U.S. officials. Both sides accuse each other of violating it.

May 10, 2025: French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk meet with Zelenskyy in Kyiv and urge Russia to enact a 30-day truce starting May 12.

May 11, 2025: Putin proposes restarting direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, “without preconditions,” but does not agree to the 30-day ceasefire Zelenskyy challenges Putin to meet personally in Turkey.

May 12, 2025: Trump says he is “thinking about flying over” to Turkey for the talks after his visit to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but later says Rubio and other U.S. officials will go.

May 13, 2025: Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak says Zelenskyy won't meet with any representative of Russia in Turkey except for Putin. Zelenskyy says he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will wait for Putin in Ankara, adding: “If Putin does not arrive and plays games, it is the final point that he does not want to end the war.”

May 14, 2025: The Kremlin releases a statement that names Putin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky as head of Russia's delegation, which also includes three other officials. The list does not include the Russian president himself.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks to journalists in the Grand Palace at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 11, 2025, after celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany during World War II. (Sergei Bobylev/Photo host agency RIA Novosti via AP)

FILE - In this photo provided by the Turkish Presidency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, gives a speech to welcome the Russian, left, and Ukrainian delegations ahead of their talks in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 29, 2022. (Turkish Presidency via AP, File)

FILE - Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, as President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office at the White House, Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Mystyslav Chernov, File)

FILE - From left, Vladimir Saldo, Yevgeny Balitsky, Vladimir Putin, center, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik wave during a Kremlin ceremony on Sept. 30, 2022, for Russia to annex four regions of Ukraine that it seized at the Kremlin in Moscow. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Ukrainian servicemen climb on a vehicle outside Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)