US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held productive talks with Ukraine’s senior negotiator Rustem Umerov in Miami over the past two days, US officials said, with further talks scheduled.
Mr Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met Mr Umerov and General Andriy Hnatov, Ukraine’s military chief of general staff, for what both sides called “constructive discussions on advancing a credible pathway toward a durable and just peace in Ukraine.”
At yesterday’s meeting, the group’s sixth of the past two weeks, Mr Umerov underscored that Ukraine’s priority is to secure settlement that protects its independence and sovereignty, ensures the safety of Ukrainians, and provides a stable foundation for a prosperous democratic future, the State Department and Mr Umerov said in a joint statement.
The participants discussed the results of Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow this week, and steps that would help end the war, it said.
US President Donald Trump has at times scolded both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Marathon talks in Russia on Tuesday did not produce a compromise on a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, potentially aggravating Mr Trump’s growing impatience with both Ukraine and Russia over the war.
Mr Trump has repeatedly complained that ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II has been one of the elusive foreign policy aims of his presidency.
The US president has at times scolded both Mr Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
During this week’s talks, US and Ukrainian officials also agreed on “the framework of security arrangements and discussed necessary deterrence capabilities to sustain a lasting peace,” the State Department said, without spelling out details.
The two parties said real progress toward any agreement, however, would depend on Russia’s readiness to show a serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps toward de-escalation and an end to killings, it added.
In addition, they discussed Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction, joint US-Ukraine economic initiatives, and long-term recovery projects, the State Department said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin (image: Kremlin Press Office/Handout)
A White House official earlier said the meetings, which are taking place at an undisclosed location in Miami, were productive, adding: “Progress was made.”
Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner had agreed before their meeting with Mr Putin that they would brief their Ukrainian counterparts afterwards, a source familiar with the matter said.
Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin’s top foreign policy adviser, said that Mr Putin and Mr Witkoff had achieved a level of understanding that made their discussions “truly friendly.”
Mr Putin met Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner for five hours in the Kremlin and focused on a US-backed plan for a settlement of the war in Ukraine, where Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
Mr Putin later described the talks as “very useful.”
Russian drones, missiles hit railway hub near Ukraine’s capital
It comes as a railway hub near Kyiv was attacked during a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack that damaged the depot and railway carriages, Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said.
The railway did not report any casualties from the overnightattack in the town of Fastiv.
Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s energysector and infrastructure in recent weeks, targeting powerstations and railway hubs.
“Russia continues to disregard any peace efforts and insteadstrikes critical civilian infrastructure, including our energysystem and railways,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.
“This shows that no decisions to strengthen Ukraine andraise pressure on Russia can be delayed. And especially notunder the pretext of peace process,” he added.
Ukrzaliznytsia said on the Telegram messaging app that itwas forced to cancel several suburban trains near the capitaland the city of Chernihiv in northeastern Ukraine.
Emergency services reported a fire and destruction on the territory of the railway station and depot but gave no more details. The report also cited an attack on infrastructure in the Chernihiv region.
The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces launched a”massive strike” overnight in response to what it calledUkrainian attacks on civilian targets.
The ministry said the strike used high-precision, long-range air- and ground-based weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and long-range drones.
It targeted Ukraine’s military-industrial enterprises, energy facilities supporting their operations, and port infrastructure used for military purposes, the ministry added.