Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s representative for the negotiations, met with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Miami on Saturday. | Kremlin pool photo by Kristina Kormilitsina/Sputnik/EPA
Talks between the United States and Russia on a ceasefire proposal for the war in Ukraine are progressing “constructively” in Florida, the Kremlin’s envoy told reporters late Saturday.
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s representative for the negotiations, met with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Miami on Saturday, the Associated Press reported, citing Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
“The discussions are proceeding constructively,” Dmitriev said. “They began earlier and will continue today, and will also continue tomorrow.”
The White House has proposed a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine and Trump said last week that an agreement was “closer than ever.” But U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio said on Friday that there was still “a ways to go” going into this weekend’s talks in Florida.
The Kremlin on Sunday denied that trilateral talks with Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. were in the offing during the discussions in Miami. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Washington had floated the prospect of three-way talks this weekend, but he added that he was “not sure something new would come” such a meeting in Florida.
“At present, no one has seriously discussed this initiative, and to my knowledge, it is not in preparation,” Putin’s top foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told journalists, Agence France Presse reported, citing Russian news agencies.
Zelenskyy on Sunday called for broader consultations with European allies after the talks in Miami. “There is a common feeling that after the work of our diplomatic team in America, it would be worth holding consultations with a wider circle of European partners,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
“We are moving at a fairly rapid pace, and our team in Florida has been working with the American side,” he said.
Zelenskyy said on Saturday that the most important issues for Kyiv in the peace talks are the disposition of Ukrainian territories, security guarantees and the operation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Reuters reported early Sunday that U.S. intelligence reports continue to warn that Putin has not abandoned his desire of capturing all of Ukraine and reclaiming parts of Europe that belonged to the former Soviet empire, findings that contradict the Kremlin leader’s denials that he is a threat to Europe.
European leaders late last week agreed to give Ukraine a €90 billion loan using joint EU borrowing, after plans to use Russian frozen assets to fund Kyiv’s war effort were torpedoed by Belgium.
POLITICO