(NEW YORK) — Ukraine’s top negotiator is scheduled on Thursday to meet in Florida with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, two days after the American’s high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, according to a senior U.S. administration official.
President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is also expected to be in the meeting with Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, the official said.
Ahead of the meeting in Florida, Putin reiterated Russia’s demand that Ukrainian troops withdraw from territories they control in the east of the country and allow their annexation by Moscow — a proposal that Kyiv has repeatedly rejected.
“It all boils down to this — either we will liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories and stop fighting there,” Putin told The Times of India ahead of his planned two-day visit to the country.
“No, they prefer to fight,” Putin said of the Ukrainian armed forces. “Well, now they’ve fought themselves into a corner.”
Putin again claimed the legitimacy of Russian control of eastern Ukraine citing the results of Russian-organized referenda in the occupied regions.
Ukraine, the U.S. and 142 other nations rejected those referenda as illegitimate in a 2022 United Nations resolution. Only Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua and Syria voted against the measure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Wednesday that preparations were underway for further discussions with U.S. officials, but did not disclose when the talks were expected.
“We’re preparing meetings in the United States — after the American team returns from Moscow and following the relevant consultations in Washington — Rustem Umerov, Andrii Hnatov, along with the rest of the negotiating team, will continue discussions with envoys of President Trump,” Zelenskyy said on social media.
Few details were released about what had been discussed during the five-hour meeting between Witfkoff, Kushner and Putin, but post-talks comments made by Washington and Moscow were mostly positive. Both parties acknowledged that more work would have to be done to make the deal acceptable to both Kyiv and Moscow.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin had found some terms “unacceptable,” but added that others were fine for Moscow. And Trump described it as a “reasonably good meeting.”
Trump said Witkoff and Kushner relayed their “impression” that Putin “would like to see the war ended.”
Both Russia and Ukraine continued their long range strike campaigns overnight into Thursday.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 138 drones and two missiles into the country overnight, of which 114 drones were shot down or suppressed. Two missiles and 24 drones impacted across 14 locations, the air force said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces downed at least 76 Ukrainian drones overnight, one of which was destroyed over the Moscow region.
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