Russia, Ukraine hold US-backed talks, first time since February

Russian and Ukrainian officials met on Tuesday for their first US-brokered talks since February, after President Donald Trump suggested last week that a broad deal was possible on ending the war in Ukraine and guaranteeing security in Europe.

Russian state news agency RIA reported the start of what is scheduled to be two days of talks, in which Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are to mediate between the two ‌warring sides.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, and with Russian forces holding about a fifth of the country, Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart – despite Trump’s optimism – on terms for a possible settlement.

The new American drive for a deal has galvanised European officials into pushing for a place at the table to seek an end to the continent’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

Before the start of the main meeting, Kyiv’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said Ukrainian officials had met separately with European, Nato and EU representatives and the two American envoys.

“We are doing everything to ensure that Europe is a participant in ⁠the diplomatic process,” Umerov said before the meeting.

France said there could be no lasting peace in Ukraine without addressing European security, and that this required the involvement of the ‌Europeans.

Russia had made clear it did not see a place for Europeans at the meeting with the Ukrainians and Americans.

On the eve of the talks, Trump said Washington was seeing a “very strong inclination” towards ending the ‌war, and that both sides were “tired of fighting”.

After meeting privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy last week at the White House, Trump predicted ⁠that a peace deal could emerge ⁠soon.

Trump has frequently said an agreement to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II was close, without a deal emerging.

However, negotiations have picked up again in recent weeks after months in which Washington’s ‌attention was focused on the war in Iran.

Publicly, there has been no sign that Putin is willing to drop his insistence that Ukraine surrender the entire eastern region of Donbas before a peace deal can be struck.

Ukrainian President ‌Volodymyr ‌Zelensky has staunchly refused to hand over land that his forces have died defending.

Russian frontline advances have slowed to a virtual halt this year.

A source in the Russian ‌delegation said Russia believed the main thrust of the talks would be trying to hammer out the key elements of a new post-war security framework for Europe.

On the ⁠eve of the negotiations, Zelensky said Ukraine’s leverage in the talks was increasing as a result of its recent battlefield performance, which has included retaking some territory in Donetsk, ⁠a coal-mining area of the Donbas.

“Ukrainian forces are currently genuinely strengthening Ukraine’s negotiating position,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Monday.

He said Russia was suffering “record losses” – a claim disputed by Moscow – and urged Washington to convince the Kremlin to end the war.

US negotiators believe that Zelensky and Putin ‌may be willing to strike a compromise on ‌the vital question of territory, each ceding a little, a US official said.

Under the proposed deal, Ukraine would get an end to the war, security guarantees and a road map to accession to the EU.

A senior Ukrainian official strongly denied that the government would consider any such concessions.

The issue of territory could be discussed only at a leaders’ level and only in the context of appropriate security guarantees for Ukraine, the official said.