President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine was waiting for more information from the United States about further peace talks and expected new meetings to take place next week, Reuters reported.

Zelenskiy’s statement during his nightly video address appeared to suggest that a meeting scheduled for Sunday in the United Arab Emirates between representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the United States would not take place. The three sides held a round of talks a week ago.

“We are in constant communication with the American side and are expecting specific details from them regarding further meetings,” Zelenskiy said.

“Ukraine is ready to work in all working formats. It is important that there be results and that the meetings take place. We are counting on meetings next week and are preparing for them.”

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff led a team of representatives in talks in Florida on Saturday with Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev and described the discussions as “productive and constructive.”

The U.S. has been spearheading diplomatic efforts to end the war, launched nearly four years ago by the Kremlin’s invasion of its smaller neighbour, read the report.

Witkoff has singled out the question of territory as the key to making progress in the negotiations, with Kyiv rejecting Moscow’s demand that it cede all of the Donbas region, including areas its army has not captured.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said this week that land was not the sole key issue under discussion but did not identify other unresolved issues.

Noor Mohammad Saqib, Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs, announced on Saturday that Afghanistan has secured a quota of 30,000 for the 2026 Hajj pilgrimage, and that this quota has been distributed transparently and fairly among Hajj applicants across the country.

Speaking at a press conference, Saqib said that the cost for each pilgrim from Afghanistan to perform next year’s Hajj has been set at 266,400 AFN, which is a reduction of 15,690 AFN compared to the previous period.

According to Saqib, the total expenses for the Hajj process have been set at 7,818,307,200 AFN.

He stated that separate quotas have also been determined for Mujahideen and Afghan migrants in Iran, Pakistan, and other countries, and that Saudi Arabia has pledged to allocate a larger quota to Afghanistan in the future.

He added that after the Islamic Emirate came to power in Afghanistan, there were 87,104 Hajj applicants who had previously registered across the country. He said that this year the majority of Afghanistan’s allocated quota was given to these applicants.

The Minister of Hajj also emphasized that contracts have been signed with Ariana Airlines and Kam Air to transport pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

Shida Mohammad Abdali, the ambassador of the former Afghan government in Japan, has announced that the activities of the embassy have been suspended as of today, Saturday.

In a statement, Abdali said that today was the last day of the Afghanistan Embassy’s operations in Tokyo and that the embassy has officially been handed over to a delegation from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Until now, the Afghanistan Embassy in Japan had been operating under the name of the former government, and its ambassador had been appointed by the former Afghan administration.

Earlier, the embassy had announced that its activities would be suspended from January 31, 2026.