U.S. and Russian negotiators are scheduled to meet in Florida on Saturday for another round of talks aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, as President Donald Trump’s administration intensifies diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv.
The meeting comes as Washington seeks to determine whether common ground exists between the two sides more than three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Saturday’s discussions follow talks held on Friday between U.S. officials and delegations from Ukraine and Europe, part of a broader push to advance a potential peace framework.
According to officials familiar with the discussions, negotiators made progress this week on possible security guarantees for Ukraine, though it remains unclear whether Moscow would accept those provisions.
The Russian delegation will be led by Kirill Dmitriev, an envoy of President Vladimir Putin, who is set to meet with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a key diplomatic adviser. Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio said he may also take part.
Previous rounds of talks involving Witkoff have been held at his golf club in Hallandale Beach, Florida.
A Russian source told Reuters that any direct meeting between Dmitriev and Ukrainian negotiators had been ruled out.
Despite renewed diplomacy, U.S. intelligence assessments continue to warn that Putin remains committed to achieving total control over Ukraine, according to sources familiar with the reports. Those findings contradict statements by some U.S. officials suggesting Moscow may be open to compromise.
Putin reinforced that stance during his annual press conference in Moscow, where he said Russia’s conditions for ending the war remain unchanged from June 2024. Those demands include Ukraine abandoning its bid to join NATO and withdrawing from four regions that Russia claims as its own.
Ukraine has repeatedly rejected those terms, saying it will not cede territory that Russian forces have failed to fully occupy after nearly four years of fighting.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said U.S. and European teams agreed during Friday’s talks to continue coordinated diplomatic efforts.
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“We agreed with our American partners on further steps and on continuing our joint work in the near future,” Umerov wrote on Telegram, adding that he had briefed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the outcome.
Speaking earlier on Friday, Rubio said progress had been made but cautioned that diplomacy has limits.
“In the end, it’s up to them to make a deal,” Rubio told reporters. “We can’t force Ukraine to make a deal. We can’t force Russia to make a deal. They have to want to make a deal.”
He added that the U.S. role is to determine whether there is enough overlap between the parties to reach an agreement, noting that success is not guaranteed. Rubio said he hoped a breakthrough could be achieved before the end of the year, though he acknowledged that may not be possible.