Negotiations between the Ukrainian and American delegations in Florida ended on Sunday after approximately four hours. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described them as very productive, but emphasized that there is still a lot of work to be done before a peace agreement with Russia is reached. Ukrainian negotiators assessed the meeting as successful, TASR reports, according to AP and AFP reports.
“We had another very productive meeting, building on Geneva and the events of this week,” Rubio said after the meeting. He added that the discussions were not only devoted to the conditions for ending the war in Ukraine. “It is also about the conditions that will ensure Ukraine’s long-term prosperity… I think we are working on it today, but there is still a lot of work ahead of us,” he noted.
The head of American diplomacy noted that Russia will play a key role in any peace agreement. “There’s a lot of variables and obviously there’s another side that’s going to have to be part of the equation,” Rubio said.
The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, who led the Kyiv delegation, described the negotiations as productive and successful. “Our goal is a prosperous and strong Ukraine. We discussed all issues that are important for Ukraine. And the USA supported us a lot,” stated Umerov.
According to CNN, none of the representatives of the delegations answered questions from journalists. An unnamed source told AFP that the negotiations were not easy at all. “The process of finding formulations and solutions is not easy,” he said, but called the discussion constructive.
American representatives were also at the meeting White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Just Witkoff is expected to travel to Moscow next week for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sky New writes that Kushner could also be part of the delegation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting should take place by Thursday.
After consultations with Russian officials, the United States prepared a 28-point plan to end the fighting, which, according to media reports, included significant concessions from Kyiv. The previous Sunday, representatives of the USA, Ukraine and European states negotiated in Geneva on the amendments to the proposal, which many countries and experts perceived as pro-Russian. According to Trump, the document underwent unspecified changes after these negotiations. Ukrainian representatives appreciated the negotiations.
