KYIV — Ukrainian and American delegations traded warm words Sunday as they attended a key meeting on how to end Russia’s war in Europe, but beneath the surface Kyiv remains concerned the U.S. only has ears for Vladimir Putin.
The talks were Ukraine’s best chance to lobby Special Representative Steve Witkoff before he heads to Moscow next week for talks with Russian officials including the country’s president.
“In general, Ukrainians have the impression that the Americans want to bypass [President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy in their consultations with Putin now, agree on something with Putin, and then return to talking with Ukraine,” a senior official familiar with the negotiations told POLITICO. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.
The American side wants to finalize the issues of territory and security guarantees, Axios reported on Sunday. But as POLITICO reported earlier, Zelenskyy will make the final decision on any territorial issues.
“The Americans want to finalize it completely, Ukrainians want to know what they will bring to Moscow,” the official said.
Zelenskyy was not at the talks, which were led on the Ukrainian side by State Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov. The U.S. delegation included Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
In official statements before the negotiations, the two sides were diplomatic. Rubio, who led the U.S. delegation, spoke of the important progress made during the past few weeks, including during talks in Geneva the previous weekend.
“The end goal is obviously not just the end of the war. Obviously, that’s central and fundamental,” he said. “It’s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.”
The American side said it expected to make “even more progress” on Sunday. Umerov, meanwhile, started by expressing gratitude to the U.S. for its efforts to end the war over the past 10 months, and thanked Washington “for hearing Ukraine.”
Yet the main task for Ukraine’s delegation was to discover whether they are finally being told everything, the official with knowledge of the negotiations said. Last week, recordings passed to Bloomberg showed that Witkoff had, in calls with top Russian officials, suggested to the Russians how best to deal with Trump to ensure the U.S. president would back Moscow’s suggested endgame for its war against Ukraine. Trump later defended Witkoff’s outreach.
Those revelations followed the U.S. presenting a 28-point peace plan that was deeply unpalatable to Ukraine and trying to impose an aggressive deadline for Kyiv to agree to it.
The subsequent talks in Geneva, attended by European, Ukrainian and American negotiators, yielded an updated plan consisting of 19 points that is more acceptable to Ukraine. Russia has received the plan and said it will “study” it.
Speaking to the press on Sunday after the latest talks, Umerov said “once again we are grateful to American people and American leadership” for a “productive and successful meeting.”
Rubio added that “This is delicate. It’s complicated. There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here that will have to be a part of the equation, and that will continue later this week when Mr. Witkoff travels to Moscow.”
