By Steve Holland and Erin Banco
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Talks held between U.S., European and Ukrainian officials over the last three days in Florida aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine were productive and focused on aligning positions, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday.
U.S. 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 Russia 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.”
He did not mention his talks with the Russians.
The meetings in Miami were the latest in a series of talks between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine on a U.S.-drafted 20-point plan to end the war.
Witkoff said the U.S.-Ukraine meeting focused on four key points: further development of the 20-point plan, a multilateral security guarantee framework, a U.S. 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.
U.S., 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, U.S. 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 U.S. 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’s, said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” 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 labeling “Russia a state sponsor of terrorism for kidnapping 20,000 Ukrainian kids,” Graham said.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Erin Banco, additional reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Diane Craft and Chris Reese)
Comments