A Kremlin envoy said peace talks were a plan proposed by America to end almost four years of war. Ukraine was being “constructively” pressured into Florida, while the Ukrainian president said they were moving “fast.”
The talks are part of the Trump administration’s months-long effort for peace that also included meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin earlier this week.
“The discussions are progressing constructively. They started earlier and will continue today and tomorrow.” Kirill Dmitriev made these statements to reporters in Miami on Saturday.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that Dmitriev met with Steve Witkoff, the envoy of US President Donald Trump, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Sunday that diplomatic efforts “are progressing very rapidly, and our team in Florida is working with the US side.”
It came as Ukraine’s chief negotiator said on Friday that his delegation had completed separate meetings with American and European partners in the United States.
While the Kremlin denied on Sunday that trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States were under consideration, Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Washington had proposed the idea of a three-way discussion.
“At present, no one has seriously discussed this initiative, and according to my information,
It is not being prepared,” said Yuri Ushakov, a foreign affairs adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Russian state news agencies.
Trump has made a comprehensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts increasingly fail due to conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.
Putin has recently hinted that he is pushing his extreme demands on Ukraine because Moscow’s army is advancing on the battlefield despite suffering heavy losses.
Putin on Friday expressed confidence. The Kremlin will achieve its military goals if Kiev does not agree to Russia’s terms in peace talks.
ceasefire and peace talks becomes clear,
On Sunday, the French president welcomed Putin’s willingness to talk with President Emmanuel Macron, saying he would decide how to proceed “in the coming days.”
“As soon as the possibility of a ceasefire and peace talks becomes clear, it becomes useful again to speak with Putin,” Macron’s office said in a statement. “It is welcome that the Kremlin publicly agrees with this view.”
The statement comes after reports that Putin is ready to hold talks with the French President if there is mutual political will.
Macron’s office said the aim of any talks would be “to contribute to a solid and lasting peace for Ukraine and Europe in full transparency with President Zelensky and our European partners.”
EU leaders and Ukraine agreed on Friday to provide 90 billion euros ($106 billion) to meet its military and economic needs over the next two years, although they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed it.
Use frozen Russian assets to raise money. Instead, they were borrowed from the capital markets.
In Ukraine, the country’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, accused Russian forces on Sunday of forcibly removing about 50 Ukrainian citizens from the Ukrainian Sumy border region to Russian territory.
Writing on Telegram, he said Russian forces illegally detained residents in the village of Hrabovské on Thursday before taking them to Russia on Saturday.
Lubinets said he contacted Russia’s human rights commissioner, seeking information on the civilians’ whereabouts and conditions and demanding their immediate return to Ukraine.
