Moscow (AFP) – Russia and Ukraine said Wednesday they were ready for more talks with the United States to end almost four years of war, after US envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner left the Kremlin with no breakthrough on a peace deal. Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s talks with the US officials ended in the early hours of Wednesday, with neither side announcing concrete progress. The Kremlin said that no “compromise” had been found on the crucial question of territories. The morning after the meeting, the Kremlin said it had told the Americans what was “unacceptable” to them.
Witkoff and Kushner brought an updated version of a US plan to end Europe’s bloodiest war in 80 years, after the US held talks with Kyiv. The Kremlin insisted it was incorrect to say Putin had rejected the plan in its entirety, and that Russia was still committed to diplomacy — despite the Russian leader issuing a stark warning that Moscow was “ready” to fight Europe if it wanted war. “We are still ready to meet as many times as is needed to reach a peace settlement,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky says any deal should offer lasting peace and ensure Moscow does not attack again.
– NATO ministers meeting –
As the Americans returned from Moscow, Zelensky announced that his top negotiator Rustem Umerov and army ground chief Andriy Gnatov were headed for Brussels, where NATO foreign ministers were gathering. They will also travel to the US to meet with Trump’s envoys, Zelensky said on social media. Washington’s Steve Witkoff has held a string of Kremlin meetings but has so far not met Ukrainian officials. NATO foreign ministers are due to discuss Washington’s push to end the fighting in Brussels.
“Ukrainian representatives will brief their colleagues in Europe on what is known following yesterday’s contacts by the American side in Moscow,” Zelensky said on social media. The fresh talks come as NATO pledges to buy hundreds of millions of dollars worth of US arms for Kyiv. “The peace talks are ongoing, that’s good, but at the same time, we have to make sure that whilst they take place — and we are not sure when they will end — that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going,” NATO chief Mark Rutte said.
– Kremlin blasts Europe –
European countries have expressed fears Washington and Moscow will reach agreements without them, and have spent the last weeks trying to amend the US plan so that it does not force Kyiv to capitulate. In Moscow, tensions with Europe were palpable. Putin delivered an exceptionally hawkish statement on Tuesday ahead of meeting the Americans. “We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” he said. His spokesman on Wednesday accused Europe of being “obsessed with inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.”
Moscow has felt emboldened in recent months by the growing pace of its army’s advance in Ukraine. Earlier this week, Russia claimed control of the east Ukrainian hub of Pokrovsk. Ukraine on Tuesday said that fighting for the town — which had 60,000 people before Moscow launched its 2022 offensive — was ongoing. Moscow on Wednesday claimed another village in the Zaporizhzhia region, where it has also made considerable advances in recent weeks. Russia occupies large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine. Putin has insisted that Kyiv surrender the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow has claimed as its own for any peace deal to be possible.
© 2024 AFP
