Today in history:

On Dec. 28, 2014, the U.S. war in Afghanistan came to a formal end after 13 years with a quiet flag-lowering ceremony in Kabul, marking the transition of fighting from U.S.-led combat troops to the country’s own security forces. More than 2,200 Americans had died in Afghanistan since the war began.

Also on this date:

In 1895, the Lumiere brothers, Auguste and Louis, held the first public showing of their films in Paris.

In 1908, a major earthquake followed by a tsunami devastated the Italian cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria, killing at least 70,000 people.

In 1912, San Francisco’s Municipal Railway began operations with Mayor James Rolph Jr. at the controls of Streetcar No. 1 as 50,000 spectators looked on.

In 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.

In 1972, Kim Il Sung, the premier of North Korea, was named the country’s president under a new constitution.

In 1973, the Endangered Species Act was signed by President Richard Nixon, a law designed to protect plants and animals from extinction.

In 1981, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American “test-tube” baby, was born in Norfolk, Virginia.

In 1991, nine people died in a crush of people trying to get into a celebrity charity basketball game at City College in New York that was headlined by hip-hop stars.

In 2015, a grand jury in Cleveland declined to indict two white police officers in the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was Black. He was shot while carrying what turned out to be a toy pellet gun.

In 2019, a truck bomb exploded at a a busy security checkpoint in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, killing at least 78 people, including many students.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Denzel Washington is 71.
• TV personality Gayle King is 71.
• Hockey Hall of Famer Ray Bourque is 65.
• Linux creator Linus Torvalds is 56.
• Political commentator Ana Navarro is 54.
• TV host-comedian Seth Meyers is 52.
• Actor Joe Manganiello is 49.
• Musician John Legend is 47.
• Actor André Holland is 46.
• Actor Noomi Rapace is 46.
• Actor Sienna Miller is 44.
• Actor Jessie Buckley is 36.
• Singer and songwriter David Archuleta is 35.

SALT LAKE CITY — Jeffrey R. Holland, a high-ranking official in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was next in line to become the faith’s president, has died. He was 85.

Holland died early Saturday morning from complications associated with kidney disease, the church announced on its website.

Holland, who died in Salt Lake City, led a governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which helps set church policy while overseeing the many business interests of what is known widely as the Mormon church.

He was the longest-tenured member of the Quorum of the Twelve after President Dallin H. Oaks, making him next in line to lead the church under a long-established succession plan. Oaks, 93, became president of the church and its more than 17 million-strong global membership in October.

Henry B. Eyring, who is 92 and one of Oaks’ two top counselors, is now next in line for the presidency.

Holland had been hospitalized during the Christmas holiday for ongoing health complications, the church said. Experts on the faith pointed to his declining health in October when Oaks did not select Holland as a counselor.

His death leaves a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve that Oaks will fill in coming months, likely by calling a new apostle from a lower-tier leadership council. Apostles are all men in accordance with the church’s all-male priesthood.

Holland grew up in St. George, Utah, and worked for many years in education administration before his call to join the ranks of church leadership. He served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University, the Utah-based faith’s flagship school, from 1980 to 1989 and was a commissioner of the church’s global education system.

Under his leadership, the Provo university worked to improve interfaith relations and established a satellite campus in Jerusalem. The Anti-Defamation League later honored Holland with its “Torch of Liberty” award for helping foster greater understanding between Christian and Jewish communities.

Oaks, also a former BYU president, reflected Saturday on his more than 50 years of friendship and service with Holland, calling their relationship “long and loving.”

“Over the last three decades as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he lifted the weary, encouraged the faithful and bore a powerful witness of the Savior — even through seasons of significant personal trials,” Oaks said.

Holland was known as a dynamic orator whose sermons combined scholarship with tenderness. In 2013 he spoke to church members about supporting loved ones with depression and other mental illnesses, sharing openly about times when he felt “like a broken vessel.”

Holland is widely remembered for a 2021 speech in which he called on church members to take up metaphorical muskets in defense of the faith’s teachings against same-sex marriage. The talk, known colloquially as “the musket fire speech,” became required reading for BYU freshmen in 2024, raising concern among LGBTQ+ students and advocates.

Holland was preceded in death by his wife, Patricia Terry Holland. He is survived by their three children, 13 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

Associated Press writer Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.

BOSTON (AP) — More than a thousand flights were canceled or delayed across the Northeast and Great Lakes regions due to snow as thousands took to roads and airports during the busy travel period between Christmas and New Year’s.

New York City received about 4 inches (10.2 centimeters) of snow Friday night into early Saturday — slightly under what some forecasts had predicted. At least 1,500 flights were canceled from Friday night, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. But by the morning, both the roads and the skies were clearing.

“The storm is definitely winding down, a little bit of flurries across the Northeast this morning,” said Bob Oravec, a Maryland-based forecaster at the National Weather Service.

Oravec said the storm was moving from the northwest toward the Southeast, with the largest snowfall in the New York City area reaching over 6 inches (15 centimeters) in central eastern Long Island. Farther north in the Catskills, communities saw as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters).

Newark Liberty International, John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports posted snow warnings on the social media platform X on Friday cautioning that weather conditions could cause flight disruptions.

The National Weather Service warned of hazardous travel conditions from the Great Lakes through the northern mid-Atlantic and southern New England, with the potential for tree damage and power outages.

In Times Square, workers in red jumpsuits worked to clear the sludge- and powder-coated streets and sidewalks using shovels and snowblowers.

Jennifer Yokley, who was there on a holiday trip from North Carolina, said she was excited to see snow accumulating as it dusted buildings, trees and signs throughout the city.

“I think it was absolutely beautiful,” she said.

Payton Baker and Kolby Gray, who were visiting from West Virginia, said the snow was a Christmas surprise for their third anniversary trip.

“Well, it’s very cold, and it was very unexpected,” Baker said, her breath visible in the winter air. “The city is working pretty well to get all the roads salted and everything, so it’s all right.”

Ahead of the storm, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for more than half of the state. Acting New Jersey Gov. Tahesha Way also declared a state of emergency for that state.

“This storm will cause dangerous road conditions and impact holiday travel,” Way said in a statement. “We are urging travelers to avoid travel during the storm and allow crews to tend to the roads. Drivers should plan their travel accordingly, monitor conditions and road closures, and follow all safety protocols.”

___

Walker reported from New York.

Today in history:

On Dec. 27, 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin set out on a round-the-world voyage from Plymouth, England, aboard the HMS Beagle.

Also on this date:

In 1904, James Barrie’s play “Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” opened at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London.

In 1932, New York City’s Radio City Music Hall opened to the public.

In 1945, the International Monetary Fund was formally established as its first 29 member countries ratified its Articles of Agreement; the IMF began operations in 1947.

In 1968, the Apollo 8 capsule splashed down safely in the Pacific, completing the first crewed mission to orbit the moon.

In 1979, Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin (hah-FEE’-zoo-lah ah-MEEN’) was overthrown and executed and was replaced by Babrak Karmal.

In 1985, American naturalist and conservationist Dian Fossey, 53, who had studied mountain gorillas in Africa for nearly 20 years, was found murdered in her cabin in Rwanda. No one was arrested for the crime.

In 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a shooting and bomb attack that killed at least 20 people in the city of Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

In 2022, Adam Fox, co-leader of a plot to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, was sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted of conspiracy charges. Barry Croft Jr. would be sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison in the plot.

In 2022, state and military police were sent to keep people off Buffalo’s snow-choked roads after western New York’s deadliest storm in at least two generations; more than 30 people were reported to have died in the region.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Basketball Hall of Fame coach Nolan Richardson is 84.
• Rock musician Mick Jones (Foreigner) is 81.
• Actor Gérard Depardieu is 77.
• Rock musician David Knopfler (Dire Straits) is 73.
• Basketball Hall of Fame coach Bill Self is 63.
• TV journalist Savannah Guthrie is 54.
• Actor Masi Oka is 51.
• Actor Aaron Stanford is 49.
• Actor Jay Ellis is 44.
• Olympic sprint gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is 39.
• Rock singer Hayley Williams (Paramore) is 37.
• Country singer Shay Mooney (Dan + Shay) is 34.
• Actor Timothée Chalamet is 30.
• NFL quarterback Brock Purdy is 26.

For three days, Immigration and Customs Enforcement kept Valera in the metal-clad room on the sixth floor above the courtroom, according to a declaration he submitted to a judge. There were no beds, and the lights remained on at all hours. Detainees were forced to share a single toilet against the wall.

“They treated us like animals,” the 47-year-old Peruvian man told Bay Area News Group.

On Christmas Eve, five months after Velera’s arrest, a federal judge in San Jose temporarily barred ICE from making arrests at immigration courts across Northern California. Bay Area immigration advocates sued to halt the arrests, which they argue force those seeking refuge in the United States to choose between skipping their court dates, thereby increasing their chances of deportation, or attending the proceedings and risking detention.

“This ruling is a critical step in ensuring that immigrants can safely pursue their immigration cases without fear of arrest,” Jordan Wells, an attorney for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, said in a statement.

The decision by U.S. District Court Judge P. Casey Pitts applies to ICE’s San Francisco area of responsibility, encompassing Northern and Central California, as far south as Bakersfield, and Hawaii. Pitts found advocates raised credible claims that the arrests have a chilling effect on court attendance and undermine the immigration court system. 

He ordered the ruling remain in place until a final judgment is entered in the case. It’s unclear when the lawsuit could be resolved.

This year, there have been at least 75 documented immigration court arrests in San Francisco, including Valera, and at least 39 in Sacramento, advocates said in an October court filing. It was unclear how many people have been arrested at the Bay Area’s other immigration court in Concord.

Attorneys for ICE argue that a January directive allowing the courthouse arrests nationwide is legal “operational guidance” authorized by the Trump administration. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

Under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, ICE arrests have surged, often topping 1,000 a day, according to data from UC Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project. About a third of those arrested this year had no criminal record, according to analyses of the data by NPR and other news organizations.

“We are making America safe again and putting the American people first,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement earlier this month. “We have secured the border, taken the fight to cartels, and arrested thousands upon thousands of criminal illegal aliens.”

Valera, who has asked a court to grant him asylum, came to the United States three years ago, leaving behind his wife and young sons after fleeing criminal groups that he says threatened his life in his home country. Valera said he obtained a work permit and that he has cooperated with immigration officials while applying for asylum to remain in the U.S.

But after walking out of his immigration hearing on July 25, ICE immediately apprehended him. Soon after being taken to the holding cell, Valera said he began to feel half of his body going numb. Handcuffed to a stretcher, he spent the next day under observation at a hospital in San Francisco.

After being taken back to the cell, Valera said he received only small burritos and a chocolate bar at each meal. He and other detainees did their best to keep the area clean, but a small trash can in the corner quickly overflowed. The air conditioning ran constantly, and the men slept huddled together in the cell.

“They made us sleep on the floor in handcuffs,” Valera said.

Now, agents overseeing the San Francisco cells must provide detainees beds, clean clothes, basic hygiene products, medically necessary diets and to dim lights during sleeping hours, among other requirements, following a November injunction secured by advocates in the courthouse arrest case. 

ICE did not respond to a request for comment on the cell conditions. But government attorneys told the court the agency is complying with the injunction.

From San Francisco, Valera was transferred to a holding cell in Oakland before being flown to a larger detention facility in Arizona. A judge ordered his release about a week later, determining he had been unlawfully detained, attorneys said.

Valera was dropped off at a bus station and used his own money to buy a ticket back to San Francisco for the next day. He booked a motel room, where he took his first shower since his arrest about two weeks earlier.

Despite the ordeal, Valera, who currently rents a space in a home in Daly City, said he plans to continue his asylum case in hopes of making a better life for himself in the U.S. He wants to one day bring his family to join him.

“There are people who have gone through things that are far worse than what I went through, and I don’t wish that on anybody,” he said. “It’s very traumatic, to be honest, and I hope one day this all ends, that it goes back to normal, and that they don’t treat us that way. You come to work, not to commit crimes.”

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Men who were part of the group of Venezuelan migrants that the United States government transferred earlier this year to a prison in El Salvador demanded justice on Friday, days after a federal judge in Washington ruled that the Trump administration must give them legal due process.

The men told reporters in Venezuela’s capital that they hope legal organizations can push their claims in court. Their press conference was organized by Venezuela’s government, which had previously said it had retained legal services for the immigrants.

On Monday, a federal judge ordered the U.S. government to give legal due process to the 252 Venezuelan men, either by providing court hearings or returning them to the U.S. The ruling opens a path for the men to challenge the Trump administration’s allegation that they are members of the Tren de Aragua gang and subject to removal under an 18th century wartime law.

The men have repeatedly said they were physically and psychologically tortured while at the notorious Salvadoran prison.

“Today, we are here to demand justice before the world for the human rights violations committed against each of us, and to ask for help from international organizations to assist us in our defense so that our human rights are respected and not violated again,” Andry Blanco told reporters in Caracas, where roughly two dozen of the migrants gathered Friday.

Some of the men shared the daily struggles they now face — including fear of leaving their home or encountering law enforcement — as a consequence of what they said were brutal abuses while in prison. The men did not specify what justice should look like in their case, but not all are interested in returning to the U.S.

“I don’t trust them,” Nolberto Aguilar said of the U.S. government.

The men were flown to El Salvador in March. They were sent to their home country in July as part of a prisoner swap between the Trump administration and the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Camilla Fabri, Venezuelan vice minister of foreign affairs for international communications, said Maduro’s government is working with a bar association in the U.S. and “all human rights organizations to prepare a major lawsuit against Trump and the United States government, so that they truly acknowledge all the crimes they have committed against” the men.

NEW YORK (AP) — Perry Archangelo Bamonte, longtime guitarist and keyboardist for the influential goth band The Cure, has died. He was 65.

The band made the announcement on their official website on Friday.

“It is with enormous sadness that we confirm the death of our great friend and bandmate Perry Bamonte, who passed away after a short illness at home over Christmas,” the band wrote.

“Quiet, intense, intuitive, constant and hugely creative, ‘Teddy’ was a warm hearted and vital part of The Cure story,” the statement continued. “Our thoughts and condolences are with all his family. He will be very greatly missed.”

Bamonte worked with the band in various roles from 1984 to 1989, including as roadie and guitar tech. He officially joined the band in 1990, when keyboardist Roger O’Donnell quit. It was then that he became a full-time member of the group, playing guitar, six-string bass and keyboard.

Having joined just after the band’s mainstream breakthrough, 1989’s “Disintegration,” Bamonte is featured on a number of The Cure’s albums, including 1992’s “Wish” — which features the career-defining hits ″Friday I’m in Love″ and “High” — as well as the 1996’s “Wild Mood Swings,” 2000’s “Bloodflowers” and 2004’s self-titled release.

Bamonte was fired from The Cure by its singer and leader Robert Smith in 2005. At that point in time, he had performed at over 400 shows across 14 years. Bamonte rejoined the group in recent years, touring with the band in 2022 for another 90 gigs.

In 2019, Bamonte was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside the rest of The Cure.

His last performance with the band was on Nov. 1, 2024 in London for a special one-off event to launch their latest album and first in 16 years, “Songs of a Lost World.” The concert was filmed for “The Cure: The Show of a Lost World,” a film released in cinemas globally this month. It is also available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD.

The Associated Press described “Songs of a Lost World” as “lush and deeply orchestral, swelling and powerful” — one of the best of the band’s career.

That’s according to dining trend reports that come out this time of year.

We’re looking at three of them, each compiled with its own research methods. They reach different conclusions, but there’s a lot of overlap.

We’ll begin with Yelp, the social media platform, whose researchers look for rising words, phrases and business mentions from millions of searches and reviews.

Yelp

Yelp includes eight items in its list of 2026 Food & Drink Trends.

Indian food is No. 1, but categories tend to overlap and complement one another.

“Indian cuisine is going mainstream,” said senior community director Margaret Palanca, who lives in Southern California.

Searches are up 459% for Indian buffets, she said in a phone interview.

Takeout searches are up 153%, according to Palanca.

Dishes that generate searches include biryani chicken, a dish with spicy marinated meat and basmati rice that’s up 49%.

RELATED: A Bollywood actor and supermodel talks about his new Bay Area restaurant

Chains with Indian dishes include Lazy Dog Restaurant, which has Tikka Masala Meatballs on its fall menu.

Black sesame, which has a stronger taste than white sesame seeds, came in second. Palanca describes it as a staple in Asian-American cuisine that’s used in sweets and beverages.

Searches for black sesame matcha are up 147%.

Matcha, a Japanese green tea powder, is No. 3 on the list. It’s already a craze, according to Palanca, and she expects it to continue to be big in 2026.

“Now a lot of places are coming up with unique flavors outside of the traditional matcha,” she said, including guava matcha and horchata matcha.

RELATED: Matcha madness: Bay Area cafes go all-in on green tea powder

“I feel like there’s going to be such a wave of matcha drinks, but a little more unique, rather than your traditional matcha latte.”

Searches for ube matcha are up 205%, according to the report, and Palanca said searches for banana pudding matcha latte are up an “astounding” 36,900%. Cloud matcha, similar to cold foam, is also popular.

All-you-can-eat buffets come in at No. 4. Palanca said this trend is “a whole different ballgame” from Indian buffets in the way they reflect a desire for social dining that’s affordable.

“People are looking for ways to socialize, and we believe that an all-you-can-eat dining style is a great way to socialize in large groups.”

But the trend also reflects an interest in global flavors, with searches for Korean barbecues and hot pot up 591%, dim sum up 244% and sushi bars up 93%.

A single product came in at No. 5. It’s an Italian cocktail called Sarti spritz, and it saw an 8,500% rise in searches.

With flavors such as blood orange, mango and passionfruit, “it’s got a tropical profile,” Palanca said. “It just goes to show that the spritz era is here to stay.”

The remaining three categories on the list are all bakeries: artisan breads, Mexican bakeries and Scandinavian treats such as Swedish princess cakes.

RELATED: 9 must-try Bay Area bakeries to satisfy any sweet tooth

Interest in sourdough never went away after the COVID-19 home baking fad, according to Palanca, but people are looking for new items such as sourdough croissants, sourdough bagels and sourdough cinnamon rolls.

Creations include, yes, a matcha cinnamon roll from Pasadena’s Bad Ash Bakes. Palanca said it went viral.

“If you love matcha, this is definitely a sweet treat for you.”

National Restaurant Association

The trade association’s annual What’s Hot Culinary Forecast is created with feedback from culinary professionals who are given lists of food and drink items and macro trends to weigh in on.

RELATED: 9 new Bay Area burgers you need to try

Chart-topping trends for 2026 include local sourcing, comfort foods and protein add-ons.

When it came to individual menu items, smash burgers topped the list. But like Yelp’s list, an interest in global foods runs through the report.

“Today’s foodies are looking for escape — the chance to step out of their everyday into somewhere comfortable.”

Dessert trends spotlight Dubai chocolate, which was huge in 2025.

So were high-protein foods and drinks.

“This micronutrient can now be added to everything from your coffee to your pancakes. Diners of all kinds are exploring the benefits of protein-rich diets, including muscle-building and weight management,” the report asserts.

Datassential

Dataessential is a research firm whose customers include Starbucks, Burger King, General Mills and Target, according to a news release.

Its 2026 Trend Report was compiled using interviews with more than 1,000 consumers. Although Dataessential sells its research, it made portions of the report available in a preview edition.

Dataessential predicts that high-fiber products will overtake protein as a diet trend as people seek to improve their gut health. Social media calls it fibermaxxing.

Its take on Indian cuisine is that foods and beverages from the state of Kerala on the Malabar Coast of India will have a moment. The region is known for spices and “veggie-forward” dishes such as mutta curry, unniyappam and palada pradhaman. Yelp has lists for Kerala food, although the restaurants it includes may not identify themselves as such.

The report also says that consumers who embraced plant-based proteins are going back to meat and that tea time will become part of happy hour as people look for new no- and low- alcohol beverages.

“New classics” for 2026 include Basque cheesecake, butter chicken, hot honey, birria and ube, a purple yam.

By GREGORY KATZ | The Associated Press

LONDON — In Britain and other countries like Australia and Canada, the day after Christmas is a secular national holiday known as Boxing Day. Here’s a brief look at some theories about how the holiday got its name and how people celebrate it:

NO NEED FOR BOXING GLOVES

While no one seems to know for sure how it came to be called Boxing Day, it definitely has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. Perhaps the most widely held understanding of its origins comes from the tradition of wealthier members of society giving servants and tradesmen a so-called Christmas Box containing money and gifts on the day after Christmas.

It was seen as a reward for a year’s worth of service. Other believe it comes from the post-Christmas custom of churches placing boxes outside their doors to collect money for distribution to less-fortunate members of society in need of Christmas cheer.

Some trace it to Britain’s proud naval tradition and the days when a sealed box of money was kept on board for lengthy voyages and then given to a priest for distribution to the poor if the voyage was successful.

There are other explanations, but it’s clear the designation has nothing to do with the modern habit of using the holiday for shopping at “big box” stores selling televisions, computers and the like.

SHARING THE WEALTH, AROUND THE COMMONWEALTH

No one knows for sure when Boxing Day started, but some believe it was centuries ago, when servants would be given the day after Christmas off as a day of rest after feverish preparations for their masters’ celebrations.

Others trace it back even earlier, to the Roman practice of collecting money in boxes — they say Roman invaders brought this practice to Britain, where it was taken up by the clergy to collect money in boxes for the disadvantaged.

The tradition gained popularity during the Victorian era and has flourished to this day. The British Empire may now be a thing of the past, but Boxing Day is still celebrated in some other parts of the Commonwealth, including Canada, Australia and Kenya.

SO IF THEY’RE NOT BOXING, WHAT DO PEOPLE ACTUALLY DO ON BOXING DAY?

Boxing Day has evolved into a day of relaxation and indulgence — and shopping. It is filled with sporting events (including a marathon soccer schedule tailor-made for TV viewing from a comfortable couch) and it is often a day when people open their homes to family and friends who drop by for turkey, ham and perhaps half-consumed bottles of wine left over from Christmas dinner.

In Britain it used to be a day for fox hunting in the frost-tinged countryside, but that practice has been mostly banned for more than a decade now. In its place, “Boxing Day Sales” have flourished, with many Britons lifted from their post-Christmas torpor by the lure of low prices in department stores.

KYIV, Ukraine — 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 added that he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalized by the end.”

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

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.

On the ground, two people were killed and six more wounded Friday when a guided aerial bomb hit a busy road and set cars aflame in Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.

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