Conversations between Russia and the United States in ending the nearly four-year war Ukraine have been productive, but much remains to be done, says Yuri Ushakov, a senior adviser to the president Vladimir Putintold reporters on Wednesday.
Putin met US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner at the Kremlin. The talks began late Tuesday as part of a renewed push by the Trump administration to broker a peace deal. Both sides agreed not to disclose the content of the talks.
The meeting came days after talks between U.S. officials and a Ukrainian team in Florida and was described with cautious optimism by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
At the center of the effort is Trump’s peace plan, which was released last month and raised concerns about a heavy focus on Moscow. The proposal met some of the Kremlin’s core demands that Kiev had rejected as non-starters, such as Ukraine’s ceding of the entire eastern region of Donbass to Russia and not joining NATO. Negotiators have indicated that the framework has changed, but it is not clear how.
On Tuesday, Putin accused Kiev’s European allies of sabotaging U.S.-led efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“They have no peace agenda, they are on the side of war,” Putin said of the Europeans.
Putin’s accusations appeared to be his latest attempt to sow discord between Trump and European countries and set the stage for absolving Moscow of blame for any lack of progress.
He accused Europe of adding “demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia” to peace proposals, thereby “blocking the entire peace process” and blaming Moscow for it. He also reiterated his long-held position that Russia has no plans to attack Europe – a concern regularly expressed by some European countries.
“But if Europe suddenly wants to wage war with us and starts it, we will be ready immediately. There can be no doubt about that,” Putin said.
Russia began the war in 2022 with a full-scale invasion of a sovereign European country, and European governments have since spent billions of dollars to support Ukraine financially and militarily, wean itself off energy dependence on Russia, and bolster their own armed forces to deter Moscow from seizing more territory by force.
They fear that if Russia gets what it wants in Ukraine, it will have free rein to threaten or disrupt other European countries that have already faced attacks from Russian drones and warplanes, as well as what they say is a widespread Russian sabotage campaign.
Trump’s peace plan relies on Europe to provide the bulk of funding and security guarantees for a postwar Ukraine, although no Europeans appear to have been consulted on the original plan. For this reason, European governments have committed themselves to ensuring that peace efforts also take their concerns into account.
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Coinciding with Witkoff’s trip, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Ireland, continuing his visits to European countries that have helped sustain his country’s fight against Russian invasion.
Zelensky said Tuesday he expects quick reports from U.S. envoys in Moscow on whether talks could move forward after Trump’s original 28-point plan was reduced to 20 points at talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Florida on Sunday.
“The future and next steps depend on these signals. Such steps will change today, in my opinion even from hour to hour,” Zelensky said at a news conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin.
“If the signals point to fair play with our partners, we could meet with the American delegation very soon,” he said.
“There is a lot of dialogue, but we need results. Our people are dying every day,” Zelensky said. “I’m ready… to meet with President Trump. It all depends on today’s discussions.”
Building on progress in Florida
After months of frustration trying to end the fighting, Trump dispatched officials to build traction for his peace proposals. The talks have so far been parallel, with Rubio sitting down with Ukrainian officials.
Zelensky said he met on Tuesday with the Ukrainian delegation that returned from negotiations with U.S. officials in Florida. Rubio said those talks were making progress, but added that “there is still much work to be done.”
Zelensky said the negotiations in Florida were guided by a document that both sides had drawn up at an earlier meeting in Geneva. The Ukrainian leader said the document was now “finalized,” but did not explain what that meant.
Ukrainian diplomats are committed to ensuring that European partners are “significantly” involved in decision-making, Zelensky said on the messaging app Telegram, warning of Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at steering the negotiations.
European heads of state and government want to have a say
On his first official visit, Zelensky met with political leaders and lawmakers in Dublin. Ireland is officially neutral and not a NATO member, but has sent non-lethal military support to Ukraine. More than 100,000 Ukrainians have moved to Ireland since Russia began its war on February 24, 2022.
Although this week’s consultations could move the process forward, few details have been made public. It remains unclear how envoys will bridge the gap between the two sides over differences as fundamental as who retains what territory. European officials say the road to peace will be long.
European leaders want to make their voices heard after being largely sidelined by Washington. They are also working on future security guarantees for Ukraine.
Zelensky was in Paris on Monday and French President Emmanuel Macron said they had spoken to Witkoff by phone. They also spoke with leaders of eight other European countries, as well as senior European Union officials and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Diplomats are having a hard time bridging differences between Russia and Ukraine and getting them to compromise. The main obstacles – whether Kiev should cede land to Moscow and how to ensure Ukraine’s future security – appear unresolved.
Zelensky is under intense pressure for his country in one of the darkest phases of the war. In addition to dealing with diplomatic pressures, he must also find money to keep Ukraine afloat, address a corruption scandal that has reached the highest echelons of his government and keep Russia at bay on the battlefield.
The Kremlin claimed late Monday that Russian forces had captured the key city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. However, Zelensky said in Paris that fighting in Pokrovsk was still ongoing on Monday.
Ukraine’s General Staff on Tuesday also denied Russia’s claim that it had captured Pokrovsk, saying it was a propaganda stunt. The Ukrainian army is preparing additional logistics routes to resupply troops in the region, the Facebook post said.
