Representatives of the USA and Russia have new talks on Saturday about a possible end to the war in Ukraine led. The Russian one Special envoy Kirill Dmitriev met in Miami in the US state of Florida with the US negotiator Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushnerthe son-in-law of US President Donald Trumpas a Russian insider said. The talks were “constructive,” Dmitriev said on Saturday. They would continue and continued on Sunday.
Ukrainian and European government representatives should also be present in Florida, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s foreign policy advisor Günter Sautter. According to media reports, a meeting with Witkoff is planned, which will also include representatives from Great Britain and France. There are no plans for talks between the German and Russian sides.
The meeting was followed by discussions on Friday USA and preceded by Ukrainian and European representatives. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country supports a US proposal for trilateral talks with the US and Russia. However, further prisoner exchanges would have to be made possible. In addition, a way for a meeting at the level of heads of state and government must be identified.
Russia rules out direct meeting with Ukrainian representatives
The US is proposing a trilateral meeting of America’s national security advisers Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, according to the state news agency Ukrinform. However, according to a Russian source, a direct meeting between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators was ruled out by the Russian side.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the talks on Friday that there was progress but there was still a long way to go before an agreement. You have to find out whether there is a basis that is acceptable to both sides. Rubio said he hoped an agreement could be reached before the end of the year.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin remains unwilling to compromise. The conditions for an end to the war have not changed since June 2024, Putin said on Friday at a press conference in Moscow. At the time, Putin demanded that Ukraine abandon its plans to join NATO and completely withdraw from four Ukrainian regions that Russia claims as its own. However, Ukraine has so far ruled out ceding territory. According to US intelligence reports, Putin also wants to continue conquering the entire Ukraine.
Ukrainian chief negotiator Rustem Umjerov said after the talks on Friday: “We have agreed on further steps with our American partners.” They want to continue the joint efforts “in the near future,” Umjerov wrote on Telegram.
