Russia and Ukraine yesterday said they were ready for more talks with the US to end almost four years of war, after US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner left the Kremlin with no breakthrough on a peace deal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talks with the US officials ended early yesterday, with neither side announcing concrete progress.
The Kremlin said that no “compromise” had been found on the crucial question of territories.
Photo: Reuters
The morning after the meeting, the Kremlin said it told the Americans what was “unacceptable” to it.
Witkoff and Kushner brought an updated version of a US plan to end Europe’s bloodiest war in 80 years, after the US held talks with Kyiv.
The Kremlin insisted it was incorrect to say Putin had rejected the plan in its entirety, and that Russia was still committed to diplomacy — despite the Russian leader issuing a stark warning that Moscow was “ready” to fight Europe if it wanted war.
“We are still ready to meet as many times as is needed to reach a peace settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that any deal should offer lasting peace and ensure Moscow does not attack again.
As the Americans returned from Moscow, Zelenskiy announced that his top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, and Ukrainian Chief General Staff of the Armed Forces General Andriy Gnatov were headed for Brussels, where NATO foreign ministers were gathering.
They would also travel to the US to meet with Trump’s envoys, Zelenskiy said on social media.
Witkoff has held a string of Kremlin meetings, but has so far not met with Ukrainian officials.
“Ukrainian representatives will brief their colleagues in Europe on what is known following yesterday’s contacts by the American side in Moscow,” Zelenskiy said.
The fresh talks come as NATO pledges to buy hundreds of millions of dollars of US arms for Kyiv.
“The peace talks are ongoing, that’s good, but at the same time, we have to make sure that whilst they take place — and we are not sure when they will end — that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said.
European countries have expressed fears Washington and Moscow would reach agreements without them, and have spent the past few weeks trying to amend the US plan so that it does not force Kyiv to capitulate.
The Russian leader “should end the bluster and the bloodshed and be ready to come to the table and to support a just and lasting peace,” British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Yvette Cooper said.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha urged Putin to “stop wasting the world’s time.”
Additional reporting by AP
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