Ukraine peace talks productive, US envoy says
By Steve Holland and Erin Banco |
Three days of talks in Miami aimed at ending war Russia’s war with Ukraine have been productive, US special envoy Steve Witkoff says.
US President Donald Trump has been pressuring Ukraine and Russia to come to an agreement on ending the nearly four-year-old conflict as soon as possible, but Moscow wants to keep the Ukrainian areas it has seized and Kyiv has refused to cede ground.
After meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev on Saturday, Witkoff and Trump adviser Jared Kushner met on Sunday with officials from Ukraine and Europe, and then separately with the Ukrainian delegation, led by senior official Rustem Umerov.
Witkoff, in a social media post, called Sunday’s talks “productive and constructive” and focused on a “shared strategic approach between Ukraine, the United States and Europe”.
In a separate X post that used some of the same language, Witkoff said his talks with Dmitriev were also “productive and constructive.”
“Russia remains fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine,” Witkoff said in the post.
“Russia highly values the efforts and support of the United States to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and re-establish global security.”
The meetings were the latest in a series of talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine on a US-drafted 20-point plan to end the war.
Witkoff said the US-Ukraine meeting focused on four key points: further development of the 20-point plan, a multilateral security guarantee framework, a US security guarantee framework for Ukraine, and further development on economics and prosperity to rebuild Ukraine.
Negotiators focused especially on “timelines” and “sequencing of next steps,” Witkoff said.
US, Ukrainian and European officials earlier this week reported progress on security guarantees for Kyiv as part of the talks to end the war, but it remains unclear if those terms will be acceptable to Moscow.
“Peace must be not only a cessation of hostilities, but also a dignified foundation for a stable future,” Witkoff said.
Prior to the Miami meeting, US intelligence continued to indicate Putin has not abandoned his ambitions of taking over Ukrainian territory, according to six people familiar with the intelligence.
In response to a Reuters report on Friday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on X that US intelligence assessments have shown Russia “does not currently have the capability to conquer and occupy all of Ukraine, let alone Europe”.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and close ally of Trump, told NBC on Sunday it was still unclear if Putin would accept the current deal.
If he does not, Graham said, the Trump administration should adopt an approach similar to its recent actions with oil tankers near Venezuela and “seize ships that are carrying sanctioned Russian oil”.
A Russian refusal to accept the current proposal should also lead to labelling “Russia a state sponsor of terrorism for kidnapping 20,000 Ukrainian kids,” Graham said.
with DPA and Reuters
AP
