Ukraine's top security officials meet US negotiators in Miami amid peace push
Ukraine's negotiators arrived in Miami on Dec. 4 to continue discussions on peace efforts with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, and Andrii Hnatov, the chief of staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, met again with U.S. officials after leading earlier talks in Florida on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
The talks reportedly ended late in the evening on Dec. 4, a source in the Ukrainian delegation told the news outlet Suspilne, without providing further details.
The visit comes amid a surge of diplomatic efforts after the U.S. backed a 28-point plan that many viewed as effectively pushing Ukraine toward capitulation in Russia's all-out war.
After several rounds of talks, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Dec. 2 that the revised plan comprises 20 points. The key sensitive topics still up for discussion include territory, the use of frozen Russian assets, and security guarantees for Ukraine, according to him.
The Miami meeting follows Witkoff and Kushner's visit to Moscow to discuss the revised peace plan with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, who participated in the talks, described the meeting as "very useful, constructive, and highly substantive," but noted that no concrete agreement was reached.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Dec. 3, Trump referred to the meeting between the U.S. delegation and Putin as productive.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Dec. 4 that "a lot of progress" was made in the talks and he anticipates that the upcoming weeks will bring results.
"I do think that we have made a lot of progress, but we're not yet quite across the finish line," he said. "I think there's hope — should hopefully be some good news the next few weeks on that front."
In his evening address on Dec. 4, Zelensky said that the goal of the Ukraine-U.S. meeting in Miami is to "obtain full information about what was said in Russia, what other pretexts Putin has found to prolong the war and to pressure Ukraine, on us — on our independence."
Ukraine is prepared to "work as constructively as possible with all our partners so that peace is achieved and that it is a worthy peace," he said.
