(AFP) – The United States and Ukraine on Sunday hailed “productive” talks on Washington’s plan to halt Russia’s war with its neighbor, but both sides also cautioned that the high-stakes negotiations were far from over. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that more work was required, and a source in Kyiv’s delegation characterized the discussions as “not easy.”
The talks in Florida come as Kyiv faces mounting military and political pressure, along with the fallout from a domestic corruption scandal. Washington has put forward a plan to end the nearly four-year conflict and is seeking to finalize it with Moscow and Kyiv’s approval. The negotiations, which follow talks in Geneva, could set the stage for an upcoming visit to Moscow by President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who is expected to discuss Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We had another very productive session, building off Geneva, building off the events of this week,” Rubio told reporters. “But there’s more work to be done. This is delicate. It’s complicated,” he added. “There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here that will have to be a part of the equation, and that will continue later this week when Mr. Witkoff travels to Moscow.” Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner also attended the meeting in Hallandale Beach, north of Miami.
Ukraine’s security council secretary Rustem Umerov led Kyiv’s delegation, which also included Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Ukraine’s armed forces, and presidential adviser Oleksandr Bevz. Umerov described the Florida talks as “productive and successful.” A source close to the Kyiv delegation, however, told AFP that “the process is not easy because the search for formulations and solutions continues.” Another source briefed on the developments told AFP that “the Americans really want the final points to be agreed upon” ahead of the US talks in Moscow.
“The wording is complicated, especially with regard to territories, because they see themselves exclusively as mediators, not as a party” supporting Ukraine, the source added. The US talks come amid turbulence for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government. A blockbuster corruption probe forced him to sack his chief of staff and top negotiator, Andriy Yermak, on Friday. Rubio had met with Yermak only a week ago in Geneva.
– Flurry of diplomacy – An initial 28-point US proposal — drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies — would have required Kyiv to withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region, and the United States then would de facto recognize the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian. The United States pared back the original draft following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but the current contents remain unclear.
After the Florida negotiations, French President Emmanuel Macron is set to host Zelensky for talks in Paris on Monday. Rubio is set to skip a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels, despite allies’ concerns about the US plan for Ukraine. But Witkoff is expected in Moscow for talks with Putin. The flurry of diplomacy comes as the war — which has killed tens of thousands of civilians and military personnel and displaced millions of Ukrainians — shows no sign of easing.
– Russian oil terminal hit – Ahead of the Florida talks, Russia’s forces targeted Ukraine’s capital and the region for two nights in a row as they advanced on the front line. A drone attack in the outskirts of Kyiv killed one person and wounded 11 late Saturday, the regional governor said. Hours earlier, a Ukrainian security source said Kyiv was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers in the Black Sea that it believed were covertly transporting sanctioned Russian oil.
One of Russia’s largest oil terminals halted operations on Saturday following a drone attack. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), a group that includes US oil majors Chevron and ExxonMobil and which owns the terminal, called the strike a “terrorist attack.” Ukraine, which did not comment on the incident, regularly targets Russian energy facilities in a bid to sap the country’s war chest.
burs-ac/sst – Chandan Khanna, with Stanislav Doshchitsyn in Kyiv
© 2024 AFP
