Ukraine, US continue talks amid hope for Russian truce commitment

UKRAINIAN and US officials were to hold a third straight day of talks in Miami yesterday, with Washington saying the two sides agreed that “real progress” would depend on Russia’s willingness to end the war.

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A UKRAINIAN serviceman gets into a T-72 tank at an undisclosed location in Zaporizhzhia region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been grinding forward across the front line against outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian forces.

(AFP)

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner have been meeting top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Kyiv’s armed forces.

The talks come after Witkoff and Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Tuesday to discuss a US plan to end the conflict, but Moscow rejected parts of the proposal.

“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 deescalation and cessation of killings,” said a readout of the Miami talks posted on X by Witkoff on Friday.

The US and Ukrainian officials “also agreed on the framework of security arrangements and discussed necessary deterrence capabilities to sustain a lasting peace”.