Ukraine: Talks on ending the war continue today in the United States

(Patria) - Ukrainian and US negotiators trying to move closer to a solution to the four-year war between Kyiv and Moscow opened their latest round of talks in Florida on Saturday, with further talks planned for today, Reuters reported last night.
Russian representatives were not present at the meeting.

"We continued to discuss key issues and the next steps in the negotiation process," wrote chief Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov on social network X.

"Special attention was paid to aligning approaches for further progress towards practical results."

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have met for two rounds of talks mediated by the US in the United Arab Emirates this year and one round in Geneva last month. Moscow and Kyiv have agreed on prisoner exchanges, but no progress has been made.

The White House described the latest meeting as "constructive," with discussions "focused on narrowing and resolving outstanding items to move closer to a comprehensive peace agreement."

Umerov, a senior Ukrainian security official, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there would be further talks on Sunday.

The US negotiating team is led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law.

Zelenskyy, speaking earlier in his evening video address, said the continuation of negotiations is crucial to reaching an agreement.

"It is important for all of us in the world that diplomacy continues and that we try to end this war. ... Nobody wants this war," he said.

"The most important thing is to understand how ready the Russian side is to move towards a real end to the war and whether they are ready to do it fairly and decently," he added.

Ukraine's agreement with Middle Eastern countries

Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday that US and Ukrainian working groups would focus on bilateral documents and discuss a broad drone agreement.
Ukraine, eager to leverage its expertise in defending against Russian drone attacks, is also working to finalize agreements with eight Middle Eastern countries as the US-Israel war with Iran escalates, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The talks in Miami were originally planned to include Russian negotiators and to be held in Abu Dhabi, focusing on finding a solution to the four-year war triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The main sticking point remains territory, with Russia calling on Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, including areas not occupied by Russian forces. Ukraine rejects this Russian demand.