U.S. and Russian officials continue talks in Florida on Saturday as part of the Donald Trump administration's efforts to end the February 2022 Russia-Ukraine war. The meeting follows Friday's U.S. talks with Ukrainian and European leaders focused on security guarantees for Kiev.
The Russian delegation is led by President Vladimir Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, U.S. diplomat Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Trump's Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also announced possible participation.
Select Ukrainian, European and American officials earlier this week reported progress on security guarantees for Kiev as part of negotiations to end the war, but it remains unclear whether those terms will be acceptable to Moscow. A Russian source told Reuters any meeting between Dmitriev and Ukrainian negotiators had been ruled out.
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to plan to occupy all of Ukraine, according to US intelligence agencies. He is demanding its withdrawal from the four occupied regions and abandoning ambitions to join NATO. Kiev rejects these conditions and insists on territorial integrity.
Ukraine's negotiator, Rustem Umerov, reported on the continuation of cooperation with the United States and the European Union.
Agreement without coercion
Rubio described the talks as hopeful: "In the end, it's up to them to come to an agreement. We can't force either Ukraine or Russia to make a deal. They have to want to make it."
"The role we are trying to play is to see if there is any penetration that they can agree on, and we have invested a lot of time and energy in that and we continue to do that. That may not be possible. I hope so. I hope we can get that done this month, before the end of the year," Secretary of State Rubio added.
Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko, however, warned of the risk arising from the Trump administration's inconsistent approach, according to NTV. The demands on Ukraine have changed several times this year, which he said undermines the chances of a stable agreement.
He also criticized the White House chief's push for a "comprehensive peace deal," which he called a misstep given the number of unresolved disputes between Kiev and Moscow.
"In addition, there are too many issues between Ukraine and Russia that simply cannot be resolved. They should simply be postponed, and that's probably what will happen eventually," he concluded, noting that Trump has instead been playing Putin's game of a so-called "comprehensive peace agreement" since the August meeting in Alaska, which he said was a big mistake.
Attacks on the shadow fleet
Meanwhile, both sides of the military conflict continue to fight. A rocket attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa has left at least eight dead and 27 wounded, according to the latest figures. The attack hit port infrastructure and a bus carrying passengers.
According to unverified reports, NTV television reported that there was also a large fire in a parking lot where trucks and cars were on fire.
For the first time, Ukraine also carried out a drone attack on a Russian oil tanker in the Mediterranean. The target was the Omani-flagged vessel Qendil, which was hit more than 2,000 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine's security service confirmed that the tanker suffered critical damage, although it was empty at the time of the attack. The tanker is part of the so-called "shadow fleet", which Kiev describes as a tool to circumvent sanctions and fund Russia's war.
The Guardian's estimate showed that the fleet consists of more than a thousand ships that change flags frequently and whose ownership is unclear. This fleet has allowed Moscow to continue to export oil, which is crucial to its revenues.
The British group Vanguard assessed the attack as evidence of the increasing use of unmanned systems against sanctioned ships. The operation involved multi-stage measures. Moscow has not commented on the incident, but President Putin has threatened to cut off Ukraine's access to the Black Sea.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have seized the villages of Svitle and Vyshki, located in eastern Donetsk Oblast and northeastern Sumy Oblast in Ukraine, according to the local defense ministry.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba also admitted that the adversary had hit tanks in the southern Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi on Saturday. According to him, these are deliberate attacks on civilian logistics routes in the Odessa region.
(max)