Talks Ongoing, but Timelines and Borders Are Elusive in Ukraine-Russia Peace Deal

Russian and Ukrainian officials in Florida say peace talks on President Trump’s plan are moving into “constructive” territory after four years of devastating war, even as Russian officials refuse a direct meeting with Ukraine negotiators. The talks in Florida this weekend followed meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin earlier this week. The president’s top envoys, Steve Witkoff, and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, attended the meetings, which included President Vladimir Putin’s chief negotiator and head of the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev, and the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defense council, Rustem Umerov. “Russia remains fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine. Russia highly values the efforts and support of the United States to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and re-establish global security,” Mr. Witkoff posted on X late Sunday after a break in negotiations.While the negotiators did not entertain three-way talks, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote Sunday that diplomatic efforts were “moving forward quite quickly.” “There is constructive engagement with the American side. This is important. They are also discussing timing — possible timeframes for specific decisions,” Mr. Zelensky said.The discussions over the past months have been focused on building out Mr. Trump’s peace plan of land and security exchange agreements. Mr. Trump has proposed having both sides walk away with the territory they currently hold.Russia wants four regions, including Crimea, to become officially Russian. Ukraine has said it will not give up land that Russia is unable to capture though it would consider dividing at other front lines.The front-line configuration keeps changing as Mr. Putin attempts to capture as much Ukrainian territory as he can before agreeing to a final deal, even if it costs him more than the one million soldiers he has already lost. Ukraine, too, will not give up without attempting to recover as much of its land as it can while also destroying Russian infrastructure.As the talks proceed, so does the war. On Sunday evening, Ukrainian news agencies reported an intercepted drone strike hit an oil pipeline in Volna near the Crimean Bridge, the critical land route between mainland Russia and the Crimean peninsula overtaken by Russia in 2014. The drone is one of dozens that were exchanged and intercepted overnight.With the fighting ongoing, Ukraine is also demanding that Russia’s human rights commissioner provide the whereabouts of 50 Ukrainian civilians who were moved to Russian territory from their homes in the Sumy border region For its part, Ukraine also insists on Article V security guarantees which give NATO responsibility to protect Ukraine though without Ukraine becoming a full-fledged member of the alliance. Russia has said it will not permit any NATO troops in Ukraine territory. Even as diplomats meet in Miami, Russia is working all angles, with Russian officials announcing Sunday that Mr. Putin would be willing to meet with President Emmanuel Macron of France, whom he had days earlier reportedly described as one of the European “piglets” who aligned with President Biden to bring down Russia. Nonetheless, Mr. Macron’s office welcomed the agreement, saying it would be totally transparent with Ukraine about the discussions.“As soon as the prospect of a ceasefire and peace negotiations becomes clearer, it becomes useful again to speak with Putin,” Mr. Macron’s office said in a statement. “It is welcome that the Kremlin publicly agrees to this approach.”European Union leaders on Friday agreed to pool another $106 billion for Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs. The money would come from European capital markets after the alliance could not agree to use frozen Russian assets to fund it.“These funds can be repaid only from Russian funds — Russia must pay for its war,” Mr. Zelensky said of the deal.

Talks Ongoing, but Timelines and Borders Are Elusive in Ukraine-Russia Peace Deal

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