Putin envoy confirms new round of talks with US

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, has confirmed that he is traveling to the US for a new round of talks on the Ukraine conflict. This comes shortly after US officials held negotiations with Kiev officials.

”On the way to Miami. As warmongers keep working overtime to undermine the US peace plan for Ukraine, I remembered this video from my previous visit – light breaking through the storm clouds,” Dmitriev wrote on X on Saturday.

A source with direct knowledge of the visit told Reuters that Dmitriev is set to meet US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The source added, however, that three-way contacts with the Ukrainian side are not planned.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio could also take part in the discussions, the source said. Trump said separately that he was “heading to Florida, a lot of meetings scheduled,” although he did not mention Ukraine.

On Friday, national security advisers from Germany, France, and Britain also traveled to Miami for talks with Witkoff and Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council secretary, Rustem Umerov, Axios journalist Barak Ravid reported, citing sources. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani also took part. Umerov later confirmed that the discussions had taken place.

The talks revolve around the US peace plan, which would reportedly require Ukraine to relinquish parts of Russia’s Donbass region that it still controls, freeze the front lines in Russia’s Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, agree to neutrality, and reduce the size of the armed forces. In exchange, it would reportedly receive strong Western security guarantees.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has since floated the idea of a referendum on territorial concessions, although Moscow dismissed it as a ploy to prolong the conflict and gain time.

Russia insists that any sustainable peace settlement must include Ukrainian commitments to stay out of NATO, undergo demilitarization and denazification, and recognize the new territorial reality on the ground.