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US and Ukraine held 'constructive' talks in Florida, Witkoff says

Se Young Lee, Bloomberg News on

Published in News & Features

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said that President Donald Trump’s officials held “productive and constructive” meetings with Ukrainian and European counterparts in Florida as part of efforts to end Russia’s war.

The talks included Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov and other European security advisers, Witkoff said in a post on X. Topics discussed included further developing the existing 20-point peace blueprint, a U.S. security guarantee framework and the economic development plan for Ukraine, he said.

“Our shared priority is to stop the killing, ensure guaranteed security, and create conditions for Ukraine’s recovery, stability, and long-term prosperity,” Witkoff said. “Peace must be not only a cessation of hostilities, but also a dignified foundation for a stable future.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a just peace, an end to the war and “at least” a Ukrainian diplomatic victory are among Kyiv’s goals. “The diplomatic process is underway,” Zelenskyy told reporters late Monday.

He said members of Ukraine’s negotiation team were returning to Kyiv, stressing they had done “everything we could do for the first drafts.”

“In my opinion, the basic block of all documents is ready,” Zelenskyy said. Nevertheless, he said “there are things we are not ready for, there are things the Russians are not ready for,” adding that the United States is still to hold talks with Russian negotiators, after which Kyiv expects to receive feedback.

Trump has been pushing Ukraine to accept territorial and other concessions to Russia in order to end Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022. Zelenskyy and European leaders have sought to revise the terms of the initial proposal co-written by the U.S. and Russia to reach a more palatable deal for Kyiv and generate security guarantees to ward off future Russian aggression.

Zelenskyy, who also called the talks constructive, said in a post on X late Sunday that the sides are going through “each point in detail.” Umerov, the Ukrainian leader’s top security official, said that timing and sequencing were particular focuses of a peace framework.

In comments earlier in the day, the Ukrainian leader cast doubt on the Kremlin’s commitment to peace.

 

“Unfortunately, the real signals coming from Russia remain only negative: assaults along the frontline, Russian war crimes in border areas, and continued strikes against our infrastructure,” he said. “It is essential that the world does not remain silent about all of this.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said that Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who is holding separate talks with the U.S. team, will relay his findings — and Moscow will determine what “can be accepted and what absolutely cannot.”

“Most of the proposals will certainly not be acceptable to us, because we will pursue what we agreed on in Anchorage and at other meetings with American representatives,” Ushakov told state television Sunday, referring to the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska in August, where Putin reinforced his maximalist demands.

The Russian leader last week said he’s willing to discuss bringing Russia’s war in Ukraine to an end, though ruled out changes sought by Kyiv and European leaders. The Kremlin had “practically agreed” on proposals for ending the war at the Alaska summit, Putin said.

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(With assistance from Maxim Edwards.)

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