US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff has said that talks with a Russian delegation held over the weekend in Florida on Donald Trump’s plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine were “productive and constructive”.
Witkoff clarified on social network X that the US delegation included, in addition to him, the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House staffer Josh Grunbaum.
“Russia remains fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine. Russia appreciates the efforts and support of the United States in resolving the Ukrainian conflict and restoring global security,” Witkoff wrote.
In a separate publication in X, Witkoff also noted that talks between U.S., European and Ukrainian officials over the past three days in Florida focused on reconciling positions. He also called the meetings “productive and constructive.”
“Particular attention was paid to discussing the timing and sequencing of next steps. Ukraine remains fully committed to achieving a just and sustainable peace. Our common priority is to stop the killing, provide guaranteed security and create conditions for Ukraine’s recovery, stability and long-term prosperity,” Trump’s envoy wrote.
Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov, who led the Ukrainian delegation at the talks, noted that during the meeting with the US representatives, the focus was on four key documents: continuing to work on the 20-point plan; agreeing on positions on the multilateral framework agreement on security guarantees; agreeing on positions on the bilateral agreement on security guarantees from the US; and continuing to work on the economic development plan (prosperity plan). Special attention, he said, was given to discussing a time frame and sequence of further steps.
At the same time, there were no visible signs of progress either in the talks between the US and Russia or in the meetings between the US and Ukraine. There was no announcement of possible new upcoming meetings.
As Russian representative Kirill Dmitriev was wrapping up the second day of talks with his American counterparts, Yury Ushakov, a foreign policy aide to the Russian president, told reporters in Moscow that no breakthrough should be expected.
Dmitriev will simply return to Moscow and report to Putin on 22 December, he said. “Americans celebrate Christmas these days. Not many people will be working,” Ushakov said.
“He [Dmitriev] will return some signals that the Americans have received from the Europeans and Ukrainians,” Russian media quoted Ushakov as saying.
After Dmitriev reports to the Russian leadership, “we will formulate a position with which we will act further, in particular in our contacts with the Americans,” Ushakov said.
He also said the changes proposed by Kiev and its European allies did not improve the chances for peace, although Ushakov said he had yet to see concrete proposals.
“I am sure that the proposals that the Europeans and Ukrainians have made or are trying to make certainly do not improve the document and do not improve the chances of achieving long-term peace,” he said.
In November, Trump began pressuring Kiev to accept a 28-point proposal that critics said was heavily tilted in Russia’s favour. Ukraine and its European backers came forward with their own amendments to protect Ukraine’s interests over territory, security guarantees for Kiev and other issues. The plan now reportedly has 20 points and takes more of Kiev’s interests into account.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the issue of possible compromises on territorial issues in the peace plan should be decided by the Ukrainian people “in the format of elections or a referendum”. To this, the Kremlin said that “the entire Donbass is Russian”.
US President Donald Trump said the other day that an agreement to end Russia’s war in Ukraine is “closer than ever”.
On 18 December, he noted that he believed the talks were “getting closer to something”, but said that “Ukraine must act quickly” because “when they delay too long, Russia changes its mind”.