Talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators over a proposed peace deal with Russia ended in Miami this weekend, with few new developments and lingering questions over security guarantees and territorial issues, according to Ukrainian officials. As the talks concluded, the Kremlin welcomed US President Donald Trump's new security strategy, saying it dropped the language of past US administrations describing Russia as a threat. The marathon Miami meeting began on Thursday between US special envoy Steve Witkoff, President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Ukrainian officials Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov. After three days of talks, "difficult issues remain," Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Olga Stefanishyna said Saturday, "but both sides continue working to shape realistic and acceptable solutions." "The main challenges at this stage concern questions of territory and guarantees, and we are actively seeking optimal formats for addressing them," Stefanishyna said. "More details will be provided once all information is compiled." Territory and security guarantees are long-standing sticking points for any possible deal. Ukraine maintains that a just end to the war would include reliable security guarantees and would not force it to surrender more territory to Russia. As the meetings kicked off earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters in India that his country intends to seize Ukraine's eastern Donbas region by any means. The Miami talks had been preceded by a visit to Moscow by Kushner and Witkoff. Trump said Wednesday the US delegation had a "very good meeting" with Putin, and that they believed the Russian president "would like to see the war ended" — though the talks failed to yield a breakthrough. In a social media post on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had a "long" and "constructive" phone conversation with Witkoff and Kushner, as well as his Ukrainian delegation in Miami. "We covered many aspects and went through key points that could ensure an end to the bloodshed and eliminate the threat of a new Russian full-scale invasion," Zelensky said. "We agreed on the next steps and formats for talks with the United States." Also discussed on the call was "the risk of Russia failing to honor its promises, as has happened repeatedly in the past," he said. Zelensky said that Hnatov and Umerov are expected to deliver him a "detailed in person report" on the negotiations. "Not everything can be discussed over the phone," Zelensky said. "So we need to work closely with our teams on ideas and proposals." Peace and its conditions will also be the subject of a meeting on Monday between Zelensky and French, British and German leaders in London. The discussion will cover "the situation and the ongoing negotiations within the framework of the American mediation," French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday. Separately, the Kremlin has welcomed the new US national security strategy, released on Friday, which sets out the Trump administration's realignment of US foreign policy and takes an an unprecedentedly confrontational posture toward Europe. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Trump administration's document has dropped language describing Russia as a threat, state-owned news agency TASS reported. "We considered this a positive step," Peskov told the news agency. "Overall, these messages are certainly in contrast with approaches of previous administrations." The strategy document says European nations regard Russia as "an existential threat," but paints the US as having a significant role in diplomacy to re-establish "conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability with Russia." A 2022 Biden-era national security strategy said Russia posed "an immediate threat to the free and open international system, recklessly flouting the basic laws of the international order today, as its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown." The Trump administration's new document also reiterates its push for "ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance." — CNN
