US and Ukrainian officials will begin a third straight day of talks in Miami on December 6, with senior Ukrainian and US negotiators jointly saying that “real progress” depends on Moscow’s desire to end the war.
“Both parties agreed that real progress toward any agreement depends on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps toward de-escalation and cessation of killings,” said a US summary of the ongoing talks posted late on December 5.
That call was issued by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security council and lead negotiator, following two days of what they called “constructive discussions” in Florida amid a renewed US push to reach a peace deal to end the nearly four-year war.
The third day of talks, which are also being attended by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Kyiv’s armed forces, come after Ukraine’s negotiating team was briefed on discussions earlier this week in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Witkoff and Kushner.
Putin Defiant
The US special envoy reportedly spoke with Putin for nearly five hours on December 2 at the Kremlin, but Russian officials said that “no compromise” had been reached in the talks.
The recent flurry of diplomacy around ending the war was sparked when a US 28-point peace plan was leaked to the media in November. That original proposal appeared to heavily favor Russia, although it has since undergone several changes to take Kyiv’s concerns more into account.
The most recent version of the proposal has not been shared publicly.
Following the talks in Russia, Putin said he was ready to continue meeting the Americans “as many times as needed.”
In other statements this week, the Russian president took a more defiant tone, telling India Today on December 5 during a trip to New Delhi that Ukrainian troops should fully leave the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine this week or Russia would "liberate these territories by force."
Ukraine and its allies in Europe have called into question the Kremlin’s commitment to ending the war, and the recent US statement appears to shift emphasis to Russia’s willingness to compromise.
Major points of contention remain between the two sides, including about providing security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace deal and territorial concessions.
Russia currently controls about one-fifth of Ukraine's territory, including large portions of the Donbas that is made up of Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.
