Secretary of State Marco Rubio said negotiations on Sunday between the United States and Ukraine over the U.S.-backed peace plan to end the war with Russia were “very productive,” but stressed there is still “more work” ahead.
A Ukrainian delegation traveled to Miami, Florida, over the weekend to meet with U.S. officials over the 28-point peace plan, with the Ukrainians seeking changes to the document that has previously been panned as capitulating to Russia.
After the five-hour meeting on Sunday, Rubio, flanked by special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, gave a short statement that expressed some optimism about the state of the peace talks.
“We had a very productive session. We don’t want to only end the war but make Ukraine safe forever,” he told reporters. “I think we built on that today, but there’s more work to be done.”
Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s security council and who was representing the Ukrainian delegation, similarly called the negotiations “productive and successful.”
Both took no questions from the press after the meeting, which was held at Witkoff’s Shell Bay golf club.
Zelensky was briefed by Umerov afterward, with the Ukrainian president releasing a statement that included little beyond an expression of thanks to the U.S. and Trump.
“Grateful to America, to President Trump’s team, and to the President personally for the time that is being invested so intensively in determining the steps to end the war. We will continue to work,” he said.
The U.S.-Ukraine meeting comes ahead of Witkoff’s trip to Moscow this week that will include a sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The special envoy may also be joined by Kushner, which is notable given the pair’s work securing the Gaza ceasefire and long-term peace plan.
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Trump is pulling for an end to the war, which he has long lamented should never have happened and wouldn’t have if he was president in 2022, the year it began.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump indicated he spoke to both Rubio and Witkoff following the meeting and said there’s a “good chance we can make a deal.”