Photos of Dakar’s surfers sharing their love of the waves with a new generation

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — In Dakar, Senegal, professional surfers Ibra Samb and Cherif Fall offer free lessons to local children, sharing skills they first learned on scraps of plywood. As the city hosts the Youth Olympic Games, surfers hope for greater visibility and support for their growing sport, which faces hurdles including limited equipment, costly travel and ocean pollution.

Katy Samba, a 13-year old, carries her surfboard out of the water after a session at Virage beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

An aerial drone view shows Ngor beach and boats anchored in the bay off Ngor Island, in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Children carry surfboards as they walk toward the water during a surfing lesson at Ngor beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

A young beginner stands up and rides a wave on a soft-top surfboard at Ngor beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Young surf students perform jump squats during a beach conditioning exercise on Ngor beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui

An aerial drone view shows Anda Club surfers riding waves off Virage beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Katy Samba, a 13-year old, fastens a surfboard leash around her ankle at Virage beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. ( AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Surf instructor Ibra Samb helps a young beginner adjust her foot position on a surfboard on Ngor beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Katy Samba, a 13-year old, laughs as a young student falls into the water during a surfing lesson at Virage beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. ( AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

An aerial drone view shows waves breaking at Virage beach as young surfers from Anda Surf Club paddle into the water in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Young surfers carry their boards down an alleyway leading to Virage Beach, which hosts training sessions for intermediate and advanced students in the Anda Surf Club program, in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Children from the community program run by Anda Surf Club which introduces local children to athletic discipline and ocean safety, hold hands in a line during a group warm-up drill on Ngor beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Katy Samba, a 13-year old, wearing striped shorts, stands with surfboards alongside other young surfers before heading to Virage beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

An aerial drone view shows the coastline and village of Ngor in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

A young girl rides a wave near the shore as another child watches from the water at Ngor beach in Dakar, Senegal, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House aims to use this week's talks with Ukrainian and Russian officials in part to persuade Moscow to agree to broader negotiations that would include key European officials on how to end nearly five years of war, U.S. officials said Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s aides Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are slated to meet in the United Arab Emirates with officials from Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy, NATO and the European Union. They'll discuss potential security guarantees and the long-term security architecture between Russia and Europe before the U.S. negotiators' scheduled talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials on Tuesday and Wednesday, the officials said.

Russia has resisted European participation in negotiations and insisted the talks should proceed strictly as a trilateral format involving Russia, Ukraine, and the United States. The three last held talks in February.

But one of the U.S. officials, who briefed reporters before the talks and spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said the Republican administration believes “very strongly that at this point, in order to end the war, you really need to have Europe at the table.”

If talks go well this week in Abu Dhabi, Witkoff and Kushner could soon travel to Moscow and Kyiv to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the official told reporters.

The Abu Dhabi talks come as Russia continued to batter Ukraine’s power grid again on Monday and as Ukrainian forces hit another of Russia’s biggest oil refineries.

The two countries remain locked in battle with no sign that either side is ready to budge from their demands. The war has already killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians, analysts and humanitarian organizations say.

Trump said in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday that Moscow and Kyiv are “very close” to a deal, despite “tremendous hatred” between Putin and Zelenskyy.

He said Ukraine would have “a little bit different shape” under the settlement, but he didn’t elaborate. The tempo and substance of Witkoff and Kushner's engagement with Russian and Ukrainian officials has also picked up over the last couple of months, according to the U.S. official.

Trump has previously made statements about developments in the war that haven't materialized.

And Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned Monday that the process still has a “ways to go" as the U.S. looks to get Europeans to the table with the Russians.

“It’s been difficult to get anything productive out of that,” Rubio told reporters. “But we’ll keep trying. And that’s what we’ve been trying to do the whole time, is try to be creative and find ways that we can help bring that conflict in that war to an end.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Trump’s team has placed “collective security,” covering not just Russia and Ukraine but also a wider area, at the top of the agenda.

The last three-way talks, in Geneva nine months ago, also took place as attacks continued. The negotiations delivered no significant progress in ending the war, but some circumstances have changed.

Trump, whose stance on the war has varied, has to reckon with Democrats taking over the U.S. Congress in January following the U.S. midterm elections. Democrats could demand more support for Ukraine.

Russian state finances are under heavy strain because of the war, and Ukraine’s economy is being choked by the relentless attacks.

In Abu Dhabi, the talks will look at what security guarantees would satisfy Russia, which sees NATO as a threat, and Ukraine, which wants to prevent future Russian invasions.

Putin has sought to sideline European countries and negotiate Ukraine’s future directly with Trump. However, European leaders and Ukraine have insisted that they be included.

Moscow says European representatives won’t be directly involved in the Abu Dhabi discussions, but European officials said representatives will be in the country.

Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said European officials will hold a “separate coordination” with the delegation from Kyiv.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the meeting would focus on trilateral negotiations, with the United States mediating between Russia and Ukraine.

“You are aware that the Americans have their own channels of communication with the Europeans, as do the Ukrainians, and it appears they are already establishing their own methods of coordination,” Peskov said. “But, to reiterate, this is a matter of trilateral negotiations.”

Russian forces targeted four electrical substations in Ukraine’s Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Vinnytsia regions, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday. The attacks are part of Russia’s campaign to deny Ukrainian civilians heating, light and running water during the approaching winter.

Zelenskyy said Monday that the European Union had agreed to activate a special emergency mechanism that speeds up funding for power grid repairs.

Russia launched 317 drones of various types including 105 jet-powered drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said.

Russian aerial attacks have pummeled Ukraine throughout the war, with gruesome consequences. A Russian glide bomb attack last week near the front line in the southern Zaporizhzhia region killed at least 55 people at an aid distribution center.

On Monday, Russian forces hit a warehouse in Odesa in southwestern Ukraine containing food supplies for kindergartens and schools, killing three people, local officials said.

Meanwhile, an attack by long-range drones developed by Ukraine during the war started a fire at the KINEF oil refinery, one of Russia’s largest, close to St. Petersburg and more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from the Ukrainian border, Leningrad Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said Monday.

Ukraine said in early October that its long-range strikes had neutralized more than half of Russia’s oil refining capacity, hampering Moscow’s ability to supply its forces.

Ukrainian forces also struck a plant near St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, that produces solid rocket propellant for Russia’s Iskander-M ballistic missiles, Ukraine’s General Staff said.

Blann reported from Kyiv. Farnoush Amiri in New York and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.

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

Police officers carry a man with a disability to a vehicle during an evacuation of civilians from Komyshuvakha, in the Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A family member cries beside the coffins of Viktor Fomenko, Natalia Karapetian and Andrii Anikin, killed in a Russian airstrike that destroyed an underground school in Komyshuvakha, during a farewell ceremony in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)