US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were yesterday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow for high-stakes talks on ending the war in Ukraine.
The meeting — preceded by days of frenzied diplomacy from Florida to Geneva to Abu Dhabi — came as Washington said it was “very optimistic” about ending Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
However, Kyiv and its European allies worry that Witkoff, who has been criticized for his dealings with the Kremlin, would yet cede ground to Moscow.
Photo: AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was yesterday in Ireland, shoring up European support, with the US-Russia meeting coming at a critical point for Kyiv.
Russian forces last month advanced fast in eastern Ukraine, and Kyiv has been rocked by graft scandals that ended with the resignation of its top negotiator — Zelenskiy’s right-hand man.
Moscow has also stepped up drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in the past few weeks, with Zelenskiy accusing the Kremlin of trying to “break” his country.
Photo: AFP
Moscow launched a total of 5,660 missiles and long-range drones at Ukraine last month, daily reports published by Kyiv’s air force showed, marking a 2 percent increase over the previous month.
“This is serious pressure, not only psychological, but also physical pressure on our population,” Zelenskiy has said.
In Ireland, Zelenskiy was briefed by Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov returning from Florida, who said “significant progress” was achieved in US talks, but that more work was needed on “challenging” issues.
Zelenskiy has said he still expects to discuss key issues with Trump, including on territory, security guarantees and Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Yesterday he said that Moscow’s real motivation for the US talks was to ease Western sanctions, rather than pursue peace.
The diplomatic push comes as Kyiv said that fighting was ongoing in Pokrovsk, the eastern Ukrainian town that Russia has tried to seize for months, with Moscow on Monday claiming that it had seized the town and planted a flag in its center.
Dismissing the claim, Ukraine’s General Staff yesterday said in a statement: “The brazen statements of the leadership of the aggressor country about the ‘capture’ of these settlements by the Russian army do not correspond to reality.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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