Russian envoy rejects trilateral peace-talk proposal, meets Kushner and Witkoff in Miami
Dmitriev bypasses Kyiv in a Miami meeting as Washington tests a three-way format; Kyiv expresses skepticism, while Europe backs Ukraine with funding.
A Russian envoy rejected the Trump administration’s proposal for trilateral peace talks in Miami with Ukraine and instead met privately with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on Saturday, Reuters reported. Kirill Dmitriev, who leads Moscow’s investment diplomacy efforts, flew to the United States but did not engage his Ukrainian counterpart, underscoring the fragility of any push for a three-way dialogue.
U.S. officials had floated the idea of a trilateral session over the weekend, drawing cautious, tepid responses from Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters that a joint meeting would be logical only after understanding the potential results of the earlier talks, according to Politico. Kyiv has maintained it will not cede land Moscow has failed to capture and seeks ironclad U.S. security guarantees as a condition of any agreement.
Earlier Friday, a Ukrainian delegation spent hours with Kushner and Witkoff in Miami, as Washington pressed the idea of a trilateral format. Kyiv’s response remained cautious and noncommittal at the time, with officials signaling that any breakthrough would depend on verifiable concessions and guarantees. In Berlin, photographs showed Kushner and Witkoff meeting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Dec. 15, underscoring the broader Western engagement surrounding the talks.
U.S. official Marco Rubio said there’s no peace deal unless Ukraine agrees and indicated he could join trilateral talks if they materialize. Kyiv has insisted it will not concede territory and will seek ironclad guarantees from the United States and allies before engaging in any broader settlement.
The European Union has moved to maintain support for Kyiv, extending about $105 billion in loans to help Ukraine sustain its defense and public finances as it continues to face Russian aggression.
Zelensky also noted that the Istanbul-format talks held in June yielded little progress, expressing skepticism that a revived format would produce new breakthroughs. The Ukrainian leader emphasized that any agreement would have to address security guarantees and postwar security architecture.
On the ground, fighting persisted around the Donetsk front, with Ukrainian forces reported firing a Bohdana self-propelled howitzer toward Russian troops near Kostiantynivka as Moscow’s invasion continued to unfold across multiple fronts. Emergency responders and civilians endured shelling and damage in surrounding communities, illustrating the conflict’s ongoing human and infrastructural toll.
The episode in Miami comes as Western officials weigh whether a broader, multi-party negotiation format could be revived after earlier attempts produced limited outcomes. Ukrainian officials have signaled readiness to engage in talks only if they can be anchored by concrete security guarantees and a credible framework for the postwar order. As the war drags on, Kyiv continues to seek assurances that any settlement would not merely pause fighting but address the underlying security architecture that determined the conflict’s trajectory.
The international response remains mixed, with Kyiv receiving financial and military support from the European Union and other allies, while Moscow signals that it remains prepared to pursue its objectives through continued military pressure. The timeline for any potential trilateral engagement remains uncertain, and Kyiv has signaled that concrete concessions and guarantees will be essential if negotiations are to move beyond exploratory talks.