Ukraine, US scramble to salvage peace plan as Moscow waits for real proposals

Ukrainian and US officials have held another round of high-stakes talks in Florida, attempting to hammer out “reliable security guarantees” for Kyiv, while Russia signals it’s ready for serious negotiations as soon as Washington and Kyiv can agree on what they actually want.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Sunday’s meeting with Ukraine’s delegation, led by Rustem Umerov, as “productive”, but admitted the process remains messy.

“This is delicate. It’s complicated,” he said, a nod to the political turmoil inside Ukraine and the deep disagreements within the Western camp over what a realistic peace would look like.

The talks included Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, both now central players in reshaping Washington’s approach to the war. Witkoff heads to Moscow this week for discussions Russian President Vladimir Putin has already labelled “serious” and grounded in real-world conditions on the ground.

Putin has said the updated US draft “can be the basis for future agreements”, as long as the next round focuses on Donbas and Crimea, two issues Moscow considers non-negotiable realities.

Washington, meanwhile, is still struggling to unify its own position. Rubio confirmed the US has been communicating “in varying degrees” with Moscow and believes it has “a pretty good understanding of their views,” but Kyiv’s internal crises continue to complicate the picture.

Sunday’s Florida talks come one week after US negotiators had to overhaul Trump’s original 28-point peace proposal, which European officials privately dismissed as unworkable and Ukrainian officials publicly labelled unacceptable.

The revised version, reportedly trimmed to 19 points, has still not been published. Ukrainian negotiators say they have “clear directives” to protect national interests but acknowledge the need for compromise as the war enters its third year with no breakthroughs on the battlefield.

Umerov said after the talks that the meeting was “super supportive” toward Ukraine, though it remains unclear how quickly Kyiv can formalise its position given the political turmoil engulfing the government.

The negotiations come as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky faces a deepening internal crisis. His powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, a key architect of Ukraine’s notorious strategy, resigned this week amid a corruption probe that has rattled Western partners and drawn comment even from Trump.

“Ukraine’s got some difficult little problems,” Trump said, referencing the scandal, before adding: “But I think that there’s a good chance we can make a deal.”

Zelensky has tried to project stability, thanking the US for a “constructive approach” and saying it may soon be possible to outline “how to bring the war to a dignified end”.

But even he admitted “these are important days and much can change”, after speaking with NATO chief Mark Rutte.