A serviceman of the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces rests after firing a M109 self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Friday.Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters
A White House envoy said Sunday he held “productive and constructive” talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives to end the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.
Posting on social media, Steve Witkoff said the talks aimed at aligning on a shared strategic approach between Ukraine, the United States and Europe.
“Our shared priority is to stop the killing, ensure guaranteed security, and create conditions for Ukraine’s recovery, stability, and long-term prosperity. Peace must be not only a cessation of hostilities, but also a dignified foundation for a stable future,” U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy said.
The talks are part of the Trump administration’s months-long push for peace. Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv. Putin has recently signalled he is digging in on his maximalist demands on Ukraine, as Moscow’s troops inch forward on the battlefield despite huge losses.
Putin signals no compromise to end war in Ukraine at annual press conference
Witkoff’s assessment comes as negotiations have been proceeding with Russia as well. A Kremlin envoy said Saturday that the talks were pressing on “constructively” in Florida.
“The discussions are proceeding constructively. They began earlier and will continue today, and will also continue tomorrow,” Kirill Dmitriev told reporters in Miami on Saturday. There were no immediate updates on the talks with Russia on Sunday.
Dmitriev met with Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
For Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram Sunday that diplomatic efforts were “moving forward quite quickly, and our team in Florida has been working with the American side.”
The Kremlin denied Sunday that trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. were under discussion, after Zelensky said Saturday that Washington had proposed the idea of three-way discussions.
“At present, no one has seriously discussed this initiative, and to my knowledge it is not being prepared,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said, according to Russian state news agencies.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) gestures during a joint press conference with France's President Emmanuel Macron in Moscow, on February 7, 2022. Putin is 'ready for dialogue' with his French counterpart, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti on Saturday.THIBAULT CAMUS/AFP/Getty Images
In Ukraine, the country’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets on Sunday accused Russian forces of forcibly removing about 50 Ukrainian civilians from the Ukrainian Sumy border region to Russian territory.
Writing on Telegram, he said that Russian forces illegally detained the residents in the village of Hrabovske on Thursday, before moving them to Russia on Saturday.
Lubinets said he contacted Russia’s human rights commissioner, requesting information on the civilians’ whereabouts and conditions, and demanding their immediate return to Ukraine.
The French presidency on Sunday welcomed Putin’s willingness to speak with President 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 becomes useful again to speak with Putin,” Macron’s office said in a statement. “It is welcome that the Kremlin publicly agrees to this approach.”
The statement came after reports that Putin was open to holding talks with the French president if there was mutual political will.
European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide €90-billion (US$106-billion) to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years, although they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise the funds. Instead, they were borrowed from capital markets.