White House: Ukraine and US negotiators to meet in Florida today

2025-12-04 08:10:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with the head of Ukraine's National Security Council, Rustem Umerov, in Miami today, the White House confirmed.

The meeting comes after Witkoff held a nearly five-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow two days ago, negotiations that the Kremlin said produced "no agreement" on ending the war in Ukraine.

US President Trump said the talks, which included his son-in-law Jared Kushner, were "pretty good", but added it was too early to say what would happen. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybhia said Russia must end the war and accused Putin of wasting the world's time.

On Wednesday, Zelensky said a meeting between US and Ukrainian negotiators would take place in the coming days. In a statement on the “X” platform, Zelensky said the world believes there is a real chance to end the war. But he added that negotiations must be accompanied by pressure on Russia.

The US-Russia talks in the Kremlin followed several days of US meetings with Ukrainian and European leaders, after concerns were expressed that the draft of a peace agreement was heavily biased towards Russian demands.

"Some of the US proposals seem more or less acceptable, although they need to be discussed further ," said Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, adding that others had been openly criticized by Russia's leader.

Although Ushakov did not provide further details, at least two major points of disagreement remain between Moscow and Kiev - the fate of Ukrainian territory seized by Russian forces and security guarantees for Ukraine. Kiev and its European partners believe that, even in the event of a peace agreement, the most effective way to deter Russia from attacking again in the future would be to grant Ukraine NATO membership.

Russia is categorically against such a proposal, and Trump has also repeatedly signaled that he has no intention of allowing Kiev to join the alliance. The Kremlin said that the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO was a "key issue" that was discussed in Moscow. /CNA