Witkov says plan to end war with Russia is progressing

Talks in Moscow earlier this week failed to produce a breakthrough, with top Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators jointly calling on Russia to show a “serious commitment to long-term peace.”

The call came after two days of “constructive discussions” in Florida between U.S. envoy Steve Vitkov and Ukraine’s National Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov.

They said in a statement that prospects for ending the war in Ukraine depended on Russia’s “readiness” to take “steps to de-escalate the situation and stop the killing.”

US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was also present at the talks, which will continue for a third day on Saturday.

“To prevent a new round of aggression, it is necessary to end the war and take credible ceasefire and de-escalation steps,” the statement said, part of the sixth round of discussions in two weeks.

During the talks in Florida, the Ukraine team was briefed on talks between Trump’s most senior overseas envoy and Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week.

Vitkov spent nearly five hours with Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, after which the Kremlin said there was “no compromise” on the draft U.S. peace plan.

The Kremlin said Putin was prepared to continue meeting the Americans “as many times as necessary,” but Ukraine and its European allies raised questions about the Russian leader’s commitment to ending the war.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted “full information about Moscow’s comments and other excuses put forward by Putin to delay the war.”

Kiev pushed for revisions to the U.S. peace plan, which was widely seen as favorable to Moscow when the initial version was leaked to the media. It has since gone through several changes, but the latest version has not yet been shared publicly.

The two sides still have major disputes over Ukraine’s post-war security guarantees and territorial concessions.

Russia currently controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including a large swath of the eastern Donbass region – made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

exist Interviewed by “India Today” On Friday, Putin warned Ukrainian troops to fully withdraw from the region this week, saying Russia would “liberate these (Donbas) territories by force.”

Ahead of the U.S. visit to the Kremlin, Putin was photographed in military uniform at a Russian command post where commanders briefed them on the situation, claiming they had captured the strategic city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region and other nearby settlements.

Ukraine denies Russian claims that it has lost control of the city.

Kiev and its European allies believe the most effective way to deter future Russian attacks is for Ukraine to join NATO or provide comprehensive security.

Russia firmly opposes it, and Trump has repeatedly stated that he has no intention of letting Ukraine join the military alliance.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s prospects of joining NATO were a “key issue” for Moscow to address.

Trump said the talks were “pretty good” but it was too early to tell what would happen. He said it was too early to say what would happen because “it really takes two to tango.”