US and Ukraine negotiators say path to peace depends on Russia
Top negotiators from the United States and Ukraine said Friday that they are having constructive talks on ending the Ukrainian war, but that the path to peace depends on Russia.
“Real progress toward any agreement depends on Russia’s readiness to make a serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps to reduce tensions and stop the killings,” U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner said in a joint statement with Ukrainian negotiators. he said.
At the meeting, the two sides “agreed on the framework of security arrangements” and discussed deterrence.
Talks in Moscow on Tuesday failed to lead to an agreement on a possible peace deal in the nearly four-year war.
The two-day meeting between Witkoff and Kushner, as well as Ukrainian national security minister Rustam Umerov and Brigadier General Andriy Hnatov, was the sixth round of talks in two weeks. They will meet again in Florida on Saturday.
In the statement, the four said Ukraine’s priority is “to secure a solution that preserves its independence and sovereignty, ensures the security of Ukrainians, and provides a stable foundation for a prosperous democratic future.”
Also discussed was the US meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week, as well as Ukraine’s post-war future, which included rebuilding the battered country and economic initiatives with the US.
It said reaching a ceasefire and reducing tensions was necessary to “prevent renewed aggression and enable Ukraine’s comprehensive redevelopment plan designed to make the country stronger and more prosperous than before the war.”
There are at least two major points of contention between Moscow and Kiev: the fate of Ukrainian territory seized by Russian forces and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Witkoff spent almost five hours with Putin in Moscow on Tuesday in talks that the Kremlin said had “failed to yield consensus” on ending the war. Kushner, a businessman and real estate investor who advised Trump during the president’s first term, also attended the meeting.
Trump said those talks were “pretty good” but it was too early to tell what would happen.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that “the world clearly feels that there is a real opportunity to end the war” but that negotiations must be “supported by pressure on Russia.”
