Christmas in Venezuela, polleras and more top photos this week in Latin America and the Caribbean

Dec. 19–25, 2025

Venezuelan migrants, who abandoned hope of reaching the United States, celebrated Christmas at their home in Maracay, Venezuela. Mountain guide Ana Lia Gonzales climbed the Huayna Potosí glacier wearing a pollera, a traditional dress of Indigenous women in Bolivia’s highlands.

This gallery was curated by photo editor Jon Orbach, based in Mexico City.

AP photography: https://apnews.com/photography

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews

A child runs with a traditional vaca loca, or crazy cow, during Christmas celebrations in Quingeo, Ecuador, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A man dressed as Santa Claus arrives to distribute Christmas gifts to children living in riverside communities in Careiro da Varzea, Brazil, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)

Francesca Barbieto skateboards in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

A patient at the Brasilia Day Hospital looks a therapist's dog during a Christmas session in Brazil, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Buildings stand in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday morning, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Chilean President-elect Jose Antonio Kast and his wife Maria Pia Adriasola greet supporters at the Santiago Cathedral after attending Mass in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Eduardo Castillo shows a portrait of his son Lt. Luis Enrique Castillo, a victim of a Mexican Navy plane crash off the Texas coast, at the family house in El Pantano, Veracruz state, Mexico, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

Children play with bubbles during a Christmas dinner organized by labor activists for people in need outside Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Mountain guide Ana Lia Gonzales climbs the Huayna Potosí glacier near El Alto, Bolivia, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Mathias jumps after receiving a Christmas present from his mother, Mariela Gómez, left, in Maracay, Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. The two returned home after abandoning their journey to the United States following President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend.

Zelenskyy told journalists that the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday's talks, and that the 20-point plan under discussion “is about 90% ready.”

An “economic agreement” also will be discussed, Zelenskyy said, but that he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalized by the end.”

The Ukrainian side will also raise "territorial issues", he said.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “would like the Europeans to be involved," but doubted whether it would be possible at short notice.

“We must, without doubt, find some format in the near future in which not only Ukraine and the U.S. are present, but Europe is represented as well,” he said.

The announced meeting is the latest development in an extensive U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year Russia-Ukraine war, but efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy's comments came after he said Thursday that he had a “good conversation” with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S. representatives since Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recently met with U.S. envoys in Florida.

“It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue," he said.

Trump is engaged in a diplomatic push to end Russia's all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.

In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.

On the ground, one person was killed and three others were wounded when a guided aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, while six people were wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman, local officials said Friday.

Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power. Energy and port infrastructure were damaged by drones in the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.

Meanwhile, Ukraine said that it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

Ukraine’s General Staff said that its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.

“Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.

Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said that a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.

Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukraine's power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a media conference at the EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)