LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ruth E. Carter has made history once more.
With her Oscar nomination for “Sinners,” Carter has become the most-nominated Black woman in Academy Awards history across any category, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed Thursday. The trailblazing costume designer was recognized for her work on Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic, set in the Jim Crow-era Mississippi Delta.
“It’s ... pride, gratitude, responsibility,” Carter told The Associated Press. She previously won Oscars for “Black Panther” in 2018 and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in 2023, becoming the first Black woman to win two Academy Awards.
Carter is now a five-time nominee, surpassing Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis. She is tied with longtime collaborator Spike Lee and Morgan Freeman for the third-most nominations among Black creatives, behind the late Quincy Jones and Denzel Washington.
“This is a major step in the development of our voices in Hollywood,” she said.
Over her career, Carter has shaped the visual language of some of Hollywood’s most influential films. She earned Oscar nominations for her work on Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” and Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad,” and received acclaim for period ensembles in projects including “The Butler,” “Selma” and the reboot of “Roots.” Her designs have also been worn by Washington, Oprah Winfrey, Eddie Murphy and Jerry Seinfeld, including for the original “Seinfeld” pilot.
“My trajectory has been about telling the story of culture,” Carter said. “Our history is being erased as we speak. So to have this responsibility of telling our stories — and being as authentic as I can — and being awarded for it, is a celebration.”
In “Sinners,” Carter said she approached costume design as an act of protection rather than embellishment, determined to safeguard the visual truth of Black working-class life, particularly sharecroppers and migrants of the early 20th century.
“We made something out of nothing,” she said. “There were hand-me-downs. There were patches. If the pants were long, we turned them up. If the hem was crooked, we left it. We wanted to show how we took things for what they were and still found a way to celebrate.”
The nomination marks another collaboration with Coogler, whom Carter credits as a vital voice for the future of Black cinema.
“I thank the Lord that Ryan Coogler was born,” she said with a laugh. “Because he continues to tell stories that are important to the culture.”
Carter said the nomination also reflects staying power in an industry often defined by reinvention.
“I was the first to be nominated. I was the first to win. And I’m still in the game,” she said. “If my being here tells young designers anything, I hope it’s that this isn’t a fluke. It’s hard work. It’s voice. It’s vision. And it’s staying.”
FILE - Ruth E. Carter appears at the 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Jan. 4, 2026, (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Ukrainian, Russian and U.S. envoys met in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, the first known instance that officials from the Trump administration have sat down with both countries as part of Washington's push for progress to end Moscow’s nearly 4-year-old invasion.
The talks follow a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent days, from Switzerland to the Kremlin, even though serious obstacles remain between both sides.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday that a potential peace deal was “nearly ready,” certain sensitive sticking points — most notably those related to territorial issues — remain unresolved.
Here’s what's known and not known about the meeting:
They are taking place in the UAE's capital of Abu Dhabi. Representatives from Russia and Ukraine have already met several times on separate occasions, but this is believed to be the first time U.S. envoys will be there too — a significant step in that President Donald Trump has been pressing for a halt to the war.
The talks are an outgrowth of recent diplomatic activity, even though Russia has kept up its attacks on Ukraine and its energy infrastructure, leaving parts of the country without power amid a bitterly cold winter.
Zelenskyy met with Trump on Thursday behind closed doors for about an hour at the World Economic Forum in Davos, describing it as a “productive and meaningful” session. Trump said later that it had gone well and that both Russia and Ukraine were “making concessions” to try to end the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in overnight talks at the Kremlin that lasted nearly four hours.
A spokesman for Zelenskyy said there are “many different formats in these talks — sometimes participants step aside for separate discussions, sometimes everyone meets together, sometimes several groups break off by topic."
The U.S. has confirmed Witkoff and Kushner are attending. The Ukrainian team includes Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s national security and defense council; Andrii Hnatov, chief of the general staff; and Kyrylo Budanov, head of the presidential office.
Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said Russia's delegation is led by the chief of military intelligence, Adm. Igor Kostyukov. The Kremlin later said the rest of the delegation are from the Defense Ministry as well, but did not elaborate. Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev also is attending.
The talks are scheduled to conclude Saturday.
Little is known about the specific issues to be discussed. Zelenskyy said the fraught issue of territorial concessions is a likely topic, while the Kremlin offered few details beyond calling the meeting a “working group on security issues.” Separate economic discussions will take place between Witkoff and Dmitriev, Kremlin officials said.
The sides have indicated that a possible peace deal hinges on the apparently still unresolved issue of territory. Speaking in a WhatsApp chat with journalists Friday, Zelenskyy described the issue of who would control the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine as “key.”
Russia’s bigger army has managed to capture about 20% of Ukraine since hostilities began in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of 2022. But the battlefield gains along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line have been costly for Moscow, and the Russian economy is feeling the consequences of the war and international sanctions.
In his briefing on Putin’s meeting with Witkoff and Kushner, Ushakov stressed that "reaching a long-term settlement can’t be expected without solving the territorial issue,” a reference to Moscow’s demand that Kyiv withdraw its troops from areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed in 2022 but never fully captured.
Peskov also said Friday that Moscow had already made its position clear and that Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the Donbas region.
Ukraine has been pressing for security guarantees from the West to prevent Russia from invading its territory again.
Kamila Hrabchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to the media at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, Russia, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (Grigory Sysoyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, left, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, second left, Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, second right, and Trump's envoy Jared Kushner talk to each other prior to their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to the media at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
