“The White House seems intent on ending the war in Ukraine by New Year’s at any cost. A new round of negotiations in Miami (Florida, USA) became such an attempt to “force peace”. According to its results, it was traditionally about “progress”, but without concrete results. Instead, the key problems in Ukrainians’ perception of the “peace plan” proposed by President Donald Trump are outlined. First of all, Americans”, — write on: ua.news
The White House seems intent on ending the war in Ukraine by New Year’s at any cost. A new round of negotiations in Miami (Florida, USA) became such an attempt to “force peace”. According to its results, it was traditionally about “progress”, but without specific results.
Instead, the key problems in Ukrainians’ perception of the “peace plan” proposed by President Donald Trump are outlined.
First of all, the Americans are rebroadcasting the main demand of the Russian dictator Putin — the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donbas, so that the Russian Federation can fully control this region. Among the items “dictated” by Moscow’s interests is Ukraine’s refusal to join NATO. In the absence of security guarantees and a clear financing mechanism for post-war reconstruction from the Western countries.
UA.News tells about what was discussed at the meeting in Miami, how European leaders reacted to the interim results of the Ukrainian-American negotiations, and where the trajectory of negotiations on ending the war is headed.
Negotiations in Florida
After the first round of peace talks in Geneva on November 23, where the American side proposed a 28-point peace plan, the US and Ukrainian delegations met on November 30 in Miami (Florida). US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Special Representative Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner acted as key negotiators from the US. The American side previously stated that it plans to resolve differences with Ukraine in matters of territories and security guarantees. He said that the rest of the points of the “peace plan” were generally agreed upon at the previous meeting in Geneva.
The interests of Ukraine in the United States were represented by the Secretary of the National Security Council Rustem Umyerov, who headed the negotiation group in place of the dismissed OP head Andriy Yermak. The delegation also included: Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States Olga Stefanishyna, Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine Oleh Ivashchenko, Chief of the General Staff Andriy Hnatov, Deputy Head of the GUR Vadym Skibitskyi, First Deputy Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Serhiy Kyslytsia and Advisor to the Cabinet of the President of Ukraine Oleksandr Bevz.
Ukrainian officials were received at the Shell Bay Golf Club in Miami, which is owned by the special envoy of the US President, Steve Witkoff. According to Western media, the delegation was treated to traditional Ukrainian dishes – borscht and cabbage rolls.
Negotiations on ending the war lasted five hours. After the first hour of discussions in an extended format, the number of participants was reduced to three from each side. Officially, the participants announced the successful advancement of the negotiation process, the foundation of which was laid in Geneva.
“Communication continued throughout the week, today was another step, but there is still work to be done… We still have a lot of work to do, but today’s session was quite productive. We remain realistic about how difficult this all looks, but we are also realistic about the progress that is already being made.” – the US Secretary of State commented on the negotiations.
Marco Rubio also announced the trip of special representative Steve Witkoff to Moscow for talks with the Russian side, noting that “we also understand their position.”
Rustem Umyerov thanked the United States for helping to “lay the foundations of a future prosperous Ukraine.”
Key issues in the negotiations
The meeting of Ukrainian and American officials in Miami was “difficult” and “tense”, stated the Western media. The main question became post-war line of territorial control.
“Putin wants the Armed Forces to withdraw from the entire territory of Donbas, and accordingly the Russians took control of it. At the same time, the Americans want Ukraine to hand over its territory to the occupiers in order to convince Putin to make peace. However, this would be a painful and politically dangerous concession.” Axios reported.
The day before, US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Army Minister Daniel Driscoll, tried to persuade the Ukrainian authorities to make “inevitable” territorial concessions. During his visit to Kyiv, he convinced that the territories that Ukraine does not want to give up will allegedly “end up in the hands of Russia” anyway.
Driscoll also tried to threaten to “deteriorate the deal,” saying, “There are cities, places that are in dispute that will end up in Russian hands, it’s only a matter of time. If we do not accept this, then the decision to fight must be weighed: how many lives are you willing to sacrifice? This will not make the deal better, it will get worse.”
At the negotiations in Florida not defined the specific nature of the security guarantees for Ukraine from the US and Western countries remained. The American media also wrote that the US intends to stop Ukraine from joining NATO, and the White House is discussing separate agreements between the Alliance countries and Moscow.
At the same time, the talks in Miami discussed new elections in Ukraine.
What’s next
The presidents of Ukraine and the USA expectedly optimistically assessed the results of the negotiations in Florida. Volodymyr Zelenskyi called them “constructive”. And Donald Trump said that there is a “chance for an agreement”.
The day after the negotiations, on December 1, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a telephone conversation with the special representative of the US President Steve Witkoff and the Secretary of the National Security Council, the head of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation, Rustem Umyerov. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined the conversation.
Later, during a press conference in Paris, Zelensky confirmed that three questions cause the most discussions during the discussion of the “peace plan” for Ukraine.
“The territorial issue is the most difficult. The question of money for reconstruction, in my opinion, without the presence of European partners, is neither simple nor difficult. Because the money is in Europe. I don’t think it’s fair. And the issue of security guarantees, which is very important. specifically from the United States of America, specifically from Europe,” Zelensky said.
He specified that “these are three main topics, highways and, at the same time, triggers. And here you have to be very careful.” The president also noted that the peace plan “looks better.”
The Kremlin announced that a meeting between Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss points of a potential peace agreement is scheduled for the afternoon of Tuesday, December 2.
Instead, Kyiv seems to hope to influence the course of negotiations by holding a personal meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Donald Trump. Although, as the unsuccessful audience at the White House in February 2025 showed, beh sitting down with the American leader can also lead to the opposite result. At the very least, the Ukrainian negotiating team in Florida emphasized the importance of a personal meeting between Presidents Zelenskyi and Trump. The leaders of both countries should “not just meet to consecrate the agreement”, but to discuss “some things”. That is, the next steps in the negotiation process have yet to be determined at the highest political level.
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