US and Ukrainian officials locked in peace talks as military pressure mounts on Kyiv

Ukrainian negotiators were locked in talks with US officials in Florida last night to try to thrash out details of Washington's proposed framework to end Russia's war in Ukraine, as Kyiv faces pressure on military and political fronts.

- Marina Dunbar New York Angelique Chrisafis

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, sat down with a Ukrainian delegation at a golf and racket club developed by Witkoff.

The talks, which came before a meeting expected this week between Witkoff and Vladimir Putin in Moscow, focused on revisions to a proposed plan developed by Washington and Moscow that was criticised by Ukrainians and Europeans as being too weighted towards Russian demands.

Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the national security and defence council in Ukraine, posted a photo of the meeting on X and described it as focusing on “steps toward achieving a just peace”.

But a source close to the Ukrainian delegation later told Agence FrancePresse that the talks were “not easy” and “the search for formulations and solutions continues”. The source added: “Everyone is interested in a practical result so that there is a subject for further negotiations between the US and Russia.”

As the teams sat down at the Shell Bay Club, a golf and racket club in Hallandale Beach, Rubio appeared to try to reassure Ukraine. “The end goal, obviously, is not just the end of the war. But it’s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity,” he said in brief remarks.