HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida: US and Ukrainian officials completed roughly four hours of talks Sunday aimed at finding an endgame to the war between Russia and Ukraine, just days before a US envoy is due in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters afterward that the session with the Ukrainian team in Florida was productive but work remains in the search for a peace deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just about the terms that ends fighting,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cIt\u2019s about also the terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity. … I think we built on that today, but there\u2019s more work to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump\u2019s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is scheduled to meet with Putin in Moscow in the next few days.<\/p>\n
Rubio, Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump\u2019s son-in-law, represented the American side in the high-level talks, held at a sensitive time as Ukraine continues to push back against Russian forces that invaded in 2022 while dealing with a domestic corruption scandal.<\/p>\n
Diplomats have focused on revisions to a proposed US-authored plan that was developed in negotiations between Washington and Moscow. That plan has been criticized as being too weighted toward Russian demands. As the meeting began Sunday, Rubio focused on reassuring Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe end goal is, obviously, not just the end of the war,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just about peace deals,\u201d the top American diplomat said as the teams sat down at the Shell Bay Club, a golf and racket club developed by Witkoff in Hallandale Beach.<\/p>\n
Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine\u2019s security council, responded to Rubio by expressing his country\u2019s appreciation for US efforts, a message geared toward Trump, who has at times claimed that Ukraine has not been sufficiently grateful for US assistance during the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cUS is hearing us,\u201d Umerov said. \u201cUS is supporting us. US is working beside us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Umerov, who appeared with Rubio to deliver a brief statement to reporters after the talks, underscored Ukraine\u2019s gratitude for US support during nearly four-year war. But he offered no hints about what, if any, progress was made during the talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur objective is a prosperous, strong Ukraine,\u201d Umerov said. \u201cWe discussed all the important matters that are important for Ukraine, for Ukrainian people, and the US was super supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubio said the talks were comprehensive and went beyond finding agreement on ending the fighting. Trump has repeatedly said that if Ukraine builds deeper commercial ties to the United States it can help deter Russian aggression in the future.<\/p>\n
To that end, the US and Ukraine earlier this year signed an agreement granting American access to Ukraine\u2019s vast mineral resources.<\/p>\n
Among measures included in Trump\u2019s draft peace proposal is the creation of a Ukraine Development Fund to invest in fast-growing industries, including technology, data centers and artificial intelligence. The proposal also calls for Washington to cooperate with Kyiv to jointly rebuild, develop, modernize and operate Ukraine\u2019s natural gas infrastructure, including pipelines and storage facilities. Russia has repeatedly bombarded Ukraine\u2019s energy infrastructure during the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also want to help Ukraine be safe forever, so never again will they face another invasion. And equally importantly, we want them to enter an age of true prosperity,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cWe want the Ukrainian people to emerge from this war not just to rebuild their country, but to build it back in a way that will be stronger and more prosperous than it\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n
Umerov has been involved in the talks. But until now, Ukraine\u2019s head negotiator had been Andrii Yermak, the powerful chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. On Friday, Zelensky announced the resignation of Yermak, after his home was searched by anti-corruption investigators.<\/p>\n
Zelensky\u2019s government has been roiled by fallout from a scandal over $100 million embezzled from the energy sector through kickbacks paid by contractors, causing newfound domestic pressures for Zelensky.<\/p>\n
It was only a week ago that Rubio had met with Yermak in Geneva, with each side saying the talks had been positive in putting together a revised peace plan.<\/p>\n
Among the other members of the Ukrainian delegation were Andrii Hnatov, the head of Ukraine\u2019s armed forces, and presidential adviser Oleksandr Bevz.<\/p>\n
The plan, which Trump has since played down as a \u201cconcept\u201d or a \u201cmap\u201d to be \u201cfine-tuned,\u201d would have imposed limits on the size of Ukraine\u2019s military, blocked the country from joining NATO and required Ukraine to hold elections in 100 days. Negotiators have indicated the framework has changed, but it\u2019s not clear how its provisions have been altered.<\/p>\n
It had initially envisioned Ukraine ceding the entire eastern region of the Donbas to Russia \u2014 a sticking point for Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Trump said on Tuesday that he would send Witkoff and perhaps Kushner to Moscow this week to meet with Putin about the plan. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in comments published Sunday on Russian state television, said Putin would see Witkoff before Thursday, when Putin departs for India.<\/p>\n
Both Witkoff and Kushner, like Trump, hail from the world of real estate that values dealmaking over the conventions of diplomacy. The pair also were behind a 20-point proposal that led to a ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Zelensky wrote on X that the Ukrainian delegation would \u201cswiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his nightly address on Saturday, Zelensky said the American side was \u201cdemonstrating a constructive approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the coming days it is feasible to flesh out the steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Attacks continue despite diplomatic efforts to end the war<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Russian drone and missile attacks in and around Ukraine\u2019s capital, Kyiv, killed at least three people and wounded dozens more, officials said. Fresh attacks overnight into Sunday killed one person and wounded 19 others, including four children, local officials said, when a drone hit a nine-story apartment block in the city of Vyshhorod in the Kyiv region.<\/p>\n
In a post on Telegram Sunday, Zelensky said Russia had attacked Ukraine with 122 strike drones and ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch attacks occur daily. This week alone, Russians have used nearly 1,400 strike drones, 1,100 guided aerial bombs and 66 missiles against our people. That is why we must strengthen Ukraine\u2019s resilience every day. Missiles and air defense systems are necessary, and we must also actively work with our partners for peace,\u201d Zelensky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need real, reliable solutions that will help end the war,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
After Ukraine claimed responsibility for damaging a major oil terminal on Saturday near the Russian port of Novorossiysk, owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Kazakhstan told Ukraine on Sunday to stop attacking the Black Sea terminal. The CPC pipeline, which starts in Kazakhstan and ends at the Novorossisyk terminal, handles a large proportion of Kazakhstan\u2019s oil exports.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe view what has occurred as an action harming the bilateral relations of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and we expect the Ukrainian side to take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future,\u201d Kazakhstan\u2019s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida: US and Ukrainian officials completed roughly four hours of talks Sunday aimed at finding an endgame to the war between Russia and Ukraine, just days before a US envoy is due in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters afterward that the session with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":90395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90380"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90396,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90380\/revisions\/90396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}