Ukrainian and European teams are also set to travel to the US city of Miami for the talks, which will be mediated by US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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Moscow has said that Russia will join US representatives, including Ukrainian and Western leaders, in talks on Ukraine in Miami. Kirill Dmitriev, the leader of the Russian negotiating team for the next round of talks to resolve the Ukraine war, said on Saturday that he would be traveling to Miami.
Ukrainian and European teams are also set to travel to the US city of Miami for the talks, which will be mediated by US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The talks are expected to see the US provide security guarantees to Ukraine, but Kiev is likely to lose some territory. Ukraine has shown initial displeasure with the plan.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged on Friday not to force Ukraine to sign any agreement, saying, "There will be no peace deal until Ukraine agrees to it." Rubio, whose hometown is Miami, said he might also participate in the talks on Saturday.
The leader of the Russian negotiating team, Dmitriev, posted a short video on social media showing the morning sun and beach greenery with the caption "on a trip to Miami." While the Americans have been holding separate talks with each side in different locations, the Russian and European involvement in the talks seems to be a step forward from the previous stage. Dmitriev also said direct talks were unlikely as relations between Ukrainian and European negotiators remain extremely tense.
Russian pressure
The weekend talks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to press ahead with his military offensive in Ukraine at a news conference on Friday. Russia announced on Saturday that it had captured two villages in Ukraine’s Sumy and Donetsk regions.
Meanwhile, the death toll from an overnight Russian ballistic missile attack on infrastructure in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odessa has risen to eight and nearly three dozen others have been injured. The Ukrainian Security Forces (SBU) claimed to have destroyed two Russian fighter jets in the airspace over Ukraine-occupied Crimea.
Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, described as a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine and stop NATO expansion. Kiev and its European allies have long called the war the deadliest and most destructive on European soil since World War II an unjustified and illegal occupation of land. The war has left Ukraine in a state of widespread devastation.
