US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff held productive talks with Ukraine's senior negotiator Rustem Umerov in Miami, Florida on Thursday, a White House official said, with the officials slated to meet again later over the weekend.
“Yesterday’s meeting between American and Ukrainian representatives in Miami was productive, and progress was made. They will reconvene later today after briefing their respective leaders,” a White House official said. No further details were immediately available.
Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner met their Ukrainian counterparts to brief them on their meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week, said a second source, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The meetings, which are taking place at an undisclosed location in Miami, were not formal negotiation sessions focused on a US-backed peace plan, the source added. Ukrainian and US officials agreed to the talks before the Putin meeting.
Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin's top foreign policy adviser, on Friday said Putin and Witkoff had achieved a level of understanding that made their discussions "truly friendly."
Serious commitment to long-term peace
Putin met Witkoff and Kushner for five hours in the Kremlin, focusing on a US-backed plan for a settlement of the war in Ukraine, where Moscow launched a full-scale invasion in 2022. Putin later described the talks as "very useful."
US and Ukrainian officials will on Saturday continue discussions on a plan to end the war in Ukraine, the US State Department said on Friday, at the end of the second day of meetings in Florida involving US Special Envoy Steven Witkoff and Ukraine's senior negotiator Rustem Umerov.
"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," the State Department said in a statement.
They "also agreed on the framework of security arrangements and discussed necessary deterrence capabilities to sustain a lasting peace," it added.