US Ukraine peace talks will continue in Miami on Thursday as US special envoy Steve Witkoff prepares to meet Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s national security council. The White House confirmed the meeting only a day after Witkoff spent close to five hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The back to back sessions reflect Washington’s effort to explore a potential path toward ending the conflict, although divisions between Kyiv and Moscow remain deep. The Kremlin said the Moscow meeting delivered no compromise, while US President Trump described it as “reasonably good” and stressed that progress would take time.
Ukraine welcomed the Miami meeting. President Volodymyr Zelensky had already signalled that US and Ukrainian negotiators were expected to speak “in the coming days.”
In a post on X, he said the world now sensed “a real opportunity to end the war” but insisted any negotiation had to be reinforced by pressure on Moscow.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybhia echoed that view. Speaking to reporters, he said Russia had to “end the bloodshed” and accused Putin of “wasting the world’s time.”
Trump told journalists that Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who also attended the Moscow talks, felt Putin wanted a settlement. “That was their impression,” he said.
According to Reuters, two long running disputes still block a peace deal. These include the fate of Ukrainian territory seized by Russian forces and long term security guarantees for Kyiv. The Kremlin has openly rejected the idea of Ukraine joining Nato, and Trump has also signalled that he does not support the move.
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Putin’s adviser Yuri Ushakov said some US ideas were “more or less acceptable” but others had drawn criticism from the Russian leader. He suggested Russia’s recent battlefield gains had strengthened its negotiating position.
Russian commanders recently claimed the capture of new areas around the eastern city of Pokrovsk, a claim Ukrainian officials dispute. Data reviewed by AFP using information from the Institute for the Study of War indicates Russian forces gained around 270 square miles of territory in November and now hold just over nineteen per cent of Ukraine.
While Putin appears ready for further contact with Washington, he remains sharply critical of European leaders. The Kremlin accuses Europe of presenting demands Moscow cannot accept and undermining the peace process.
Shortly before meeting the US envoys, Putin said at a forum in Moscow that he did not seek conflict with Europe but was “ready for war.” The UK government dismissed his remarks as “yet more Kremlin claptrap from a president who is not serious about peace.”
Nato foreign ministers also met in Brussels on Wednesday. Secretary General Mark Rutte said talks were welcome but insisted Ukraine must be placed in the strongest possible position.
In a separate development, EU states and the European Parliament agreed on a plan to remove Russian gas from the bloc’s energy mix before the end of 2027. The deal would end long term pipeline contracts from September 2027 and long term liquefied natural gas contracts from January the same year.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it “the dawn of a new era.” Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said Europe had chosen “security and independence” and vowed that there would be no more pressure from Moscow.
The Commission also proposed raising ninety billion euro for Ukraine to support public services and defence needs. Ukraine’s prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko welcomed the plan, saying it would cover most of the country’s financial needs for the next two years.
