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Ukraine and US negotiators to meet in Florida after Moscow talks, White House says
Ukraine and US negotiators to meet in Florida after Moscow talks, White House says
US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet the head of Ukraine's national security council, Rustem Umerov, for talks in Miami on Thursday, the White House has confirmed.
The meeting comes after Witkoff spent almost five hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, negotiations which the Kremlin said produced "no compromise" on ending the war in Ukraine.
US President Trump said the talks - also attended by his son-in-law Jared Kushner - were "reasonably good", but added that it was too soon to say what would happen because "it does take two to tango."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybhia said Russia must "end the bloodshed", and accused Putin of "wasting the world's time".
When asked by a reporter whether Witkoff and Kushner believed Putin genuinely wanted to end the war, Trump said: "[Putin] would like to end the war. That was their impression."
Earlier on Wednesday, Zelensky had said a meeting between US and Ukrainian negotiators would take place "in the coming days".
In a statement on X, Zelensky said: "Right now, the world clearly feels that there is a real opportunity to end the war."
But he added that negotiations must be "backed by pressure on Russia".
The US-Russia talks at the Kremlin followed days of US meetings with Ukrainian and European leaders, after concerns had been expressed that the draft of a peace deal was too slanted towards Russia's demands.
"Some of the US proposals look more or less acceptable, though they need to be discussed further", Ushakov said, while adding that others had been openly criticised by Russia's leader.
Although Ushakov did not elaborate further, at least two major points of contention remain between Moscow and Kyiv - the fate of Ukrainian territory seized by Russian forces and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Kyiv and its European partners believe that, even in the event of a peace deal, the most effective way to deter Russia from attacking again in the future would be to grant Ukraine membership of Nato.
Russia is vehemently opposed to such a proposal, and Trump too has repeatedly signalled he has no intention of letting Kyiv into the alliance.
The prospect of Ukraine joining Nato was a "key question" that was tackled in Moscow, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
Ushakov, a senior foreign policy adviser to Putin, implied that the Russian negotiating position had been strengthened thanks to recent successes on the battlefield.
Russian soldiers had "helped make the assessments of our foreign partners regarding the paths to a peace settlement more appropriate," he said.
Ahead of the US visit to the Kremlin, Putin was filmed in army fatigues at a Russian command post, being briefed by commanders claiming the conquest of the key strategic city of Pokrovsk, in eastern Ukraine, as well as other nearby settlements.
Fighting in Pokrovsk is continuing and Russian forces do not control the whole city, but Russian officials clearly believe their message of military gains has been heard by the US.
Russian forces have made some incremental advances in the east and appear to have stepped up their campaign in recent weeks. They seized about 701 sq km (270 sq miles) of Ukrainian territory in November, according to AFP analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), and they now control 19.3% of Ukrainian territory.
The Kremlin on Wednesday said Putin was ready to keep meeting with the Americans "as many times as needed".
But as Russian-American relations appear to grow more cordial, the gulf between Moscow and Europe widens.
Putin has accused Europe of sabotaging Russia's relations with the US, of putting forward demands Moscow could not accept and of blocking the peace process. Shortly before meeting Witkoff and Kushner, Putin told a forum in Moscow that while he did not want conflict with Europe, he was "ready for war".
UK government officials rejected Putin's message as "yet more Kremlin claptrap from a president who isn't serious about peace".
Nato foreign ministers met in Brussels on Wednesday and Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that it was positive that peace talks were taking place but Ukraine had to be put in "the strongest position to keep the fight going".
EU member states have reached a deal with members of the European Parliament to make Europe fully independent of Russian gas before the end of 2027.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen hailed "the dawn of a new era", under a deal that means long-term gas pipeline contracts with Russia will be banned from September 2027 and long-term contracts for liquefied natural gas will be banned from January 2027.
"We've chosen energy security and independence for Europe. No more blackmail. No more market manipulation by Putin. We stand strong with Ukraine," EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said on Wednesday.
The Commission is also proposing to raise €90bn for Ukraine to fund its military and basic services while Russia's war continues.
The plan would either require Belgium to agree to a "reparations loan" using frozen Russian assets held in a financial institution in Brussels, or the money would be funded by international borrowing.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has welcomed the proposal, which would cover two-thirds of Ukraine's financing needs for the next two years.
Belgium has resisted the plan to use frozen assets held on its territory, over concerns about legal repercussions from Moscow. The European Central Bank (ECB) has also opposed the idea, saying it would not act as a backstop for a reparations loan.
The proposed loan is smaller than the planned €140bn loan initially planned and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said "we support this and, of course, take Belgium's concerns seriously".
Meanwhile in New York on Wednesday, the United States joined 90 other countries at the United Nations to demand Russia "ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported", urging Moscow to stop the practice.
According to the Ukrainian government, more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia. The UK government estimates that some 6,000 Ukrainian children have been relocated to a network of "re-education camps" in Russia.
In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, in part for the unlawful deportation of children. Putin and his government deny the charges.
Source: BBC
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