Ukrainian and European officials had ‘productive’ talks on ending war, US envoy says | Trump administration
A White House envoy said Sunday he had “productive and constructive” talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.
Speaking on social media, Steve Witkoff said the negotiations aimed to align with a shared strategic approach between Ukraine, the United States and Europe.
“Our common priority is to put an end to the massacres, provide guaranteed security and create conditions conducive to the recovery, stability and long-term prosperity of Ukraine. Peace must be not only a cessation of hostilities, but also a dignified basis for a stable future,” declared Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East.
These talks are part of the peace efforts deployed by the Trump administration for months. The US president launched a broad diplomatic campaign to end the war, but his efforts were met with very conflicting demands from Moscow and kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently indicated he was deepening his maximalist demands on Ukraine, as Moscow’s troops advance on the battlefield despite huge losses.
Witkoff’s assessment comes as negotiations also progress with Russia. A Kremlin envoy said Saturday that negotiations were continuing in a “constructive” manner in Florida.
“The discussions are taking place constructively. They started earlier and will continue today and will also continue tomorrow,” Kirill Dmitriev told reporters on Saturday in Miami. There was no immediate update on the talks with Russia on Sunday.
Dmitriev met with Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Russia’s official news agency RIA Novosti reported.
For Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Sunday that diplomatic efforts were “moving quite quickly and our team in Florida was working with the American side.”
The Kremlin denied on Sunday that trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States were under discussion, after Zelensky said on Saturday that Washington had proposed the idea of three-way talks.
“So far, no one has seriously discussed this initiative and, as far as I know, it is not in preparation,” Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuriy Ushakov said, according to Russian state news agencies.
In Ukraine, human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets on Sunday accused Russian forces of forcibly expelling around fifty Ukrainian civilians from the Ukrainian border region of Sumy to Russian territory.
Writing on Telegram, he said Russian forces illegally arrested residents of the village of Hrabovske on Thursday, before transferring them to Russia on Saturday.
Lubinets said he contacted the Russian human rights commissioner, requesting information on the fate and living conditions of the civilians, and demanding their immediate return to Ukraine.
The French presidency on Sunday welcomed Putin’s willingness to speak with Emmanuel Macron, saying it would decide how to proceed “in the coming days.”
“As soon as the prospect of a ceasefire and peace negotiations becomes clearer, it will again become useful to speak with Putin,” Macron’s office said in a statement. “It is positive that the Kremlin publicly accepts this approach.”
The statement followed reports that Putin was open to talks with the French president if there was mutual political will.
European Union leaders agreed Friday to provide 90 billion euros ($106 billion) to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs over the next two years, even as they failed to iron out differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise funds. Instead, they were borrowed from capital markets.
