On the “X” platform, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff described on Sunday the meetings that brought together American, European and Ukrainian officials as “fruitful and constructive,” and explained that the Ukrainian delegation held a series of intensive meetings with American and European partners, in addition to a separate American-Ukrainian meeting, devoted to discussing the time frames and sequence of implementation steps for the proposed peace plan.
Witkoff stressed that the American vision is not limited to merely stopping hostilities, but aims to consolidate the foundations of lasting stability that guarantees security and creates the conditions for Ukraine’s recovery and prosperity in the future, considering that “everyone’s priority is to stop the killing and secure real security guarantees.”
These meetings come in the context of following up on the plan presented by Washington last month, which includes 28 articles to end the war. However, the first version of the plan was met with Ukrainian and European reservations, given that it was considered biased in favor of Moscow, which prompted the US administration to make amendments to it after consultations with Kyiv and the European Union. In return, the Kremlin considered the amendments “unconstructive,” hinting at the difficulty of accepting them in their current form.
In this context, Moscow confirmed that its envoy Kirill Dmitriev is in the United States only to receive the amendments and transfer them to the Kremlin, denying any preparations for direct tripartite negotiations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Dmitriev will review what the Americans and Europeans have prepared and inform the Russian leadership of it later, stressing that he did not carry any new message from President Vladimir Putin.
Russian official media showed footage of Dmitriev arriving at the luxurious “Shell Bay” golf club, owned by Witkoff, the former real estate partner of US President Donald Trump, in a move that reflected the unconventional nature of the channel used to convey messages between the two parties.
In return, the chief Ukrainian negotiator, Rustem Umerov, confirmed the continuation of the meetings in the United States, announcing a new meeting with the American side with the participation of the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Army, Andrei Ghnatov, within the framework of coordinating military and political positions in parallel with the diplomatic track.
Despite the lack of available information about the final version of the plan, the data indicates the possibility of Kyiv demanding limited territorial concessions in exchange for direct American security guarantees.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the talks as “constructive” and proceeding at a relatively rapid pace, while stressing that their success remains dependent on Russia’s willingness to make a real decision to end the war, not just manage the conflict.
These talks come in light of the ongoing war since February 2022 between Russia and Ukraine, which has led to widespread field changes and significant human and economic losses, in addition to an unprecedented escalation in relations between Moscow and the West. While Russia continues to adhere to the areas it controls in eastern and southern Ukraine, Kyiv, with American and European support, insists on restoring its lands in full and rejecting any settlement that enshrines military realities imposed by the war.
This fundamental difference has caused any previous negotiating track to falter quickly, despite the multiple attempts at international mediation.
