Zelenskiy says Ukraine expects Europeans to join talks with US

Zelenskiy earlier said that Ukraine's negotiators would hold talks in the United States on Friday and Saturday as part of efforts led by the United States to seek a settlement of the 4-1/2-year-old war with Russia.

The president, speaking to reporters in Kyiv, said Ukrainian negotiators would raise the issue of air defences in light of near-constant Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities. More than 70 have been killed in strikes over the past two days.

Zelenskiy also said Ukraine had "mirrored" Russian attacks on data centres, referring to a strike on a centre operated by Russian technology company Yandex.

"We always respond in mirror-like fashion," Zelenskiy said. "You all know, they have been hitting and continue to hit our data centres. We are responding. I can't share all the details."

Russian technology and AI company Yandex said on Thursday it could not yet determine whether equipment at a data centre hit by a Ukrainian drone attack could be restored.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Mark Porter and Cynthia Osterman)