Kremlin denies three-way US-Ukraine-Russia talks on the cards

MIAMI - The Kremlin on Dec 21 denied that three-way talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US were on the cards, as diplomats gathered in Miami for talks on ending the conflict.

A day earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Washington had mooted the trilateral format
, which would mark Moscow and Kyiv’s first face-to-face negotiations in half a year, but expressed scepticism that they would lead to progress.

“At present, no one has seriously discussed this initiative, and to my knowledge, it is not in preparation,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters, according to Russian news agencies.

After revealing the US three-way proposal, Mr Zelensky told journalists on Dec 20 that he was “not sure that anything new could come of it”, and urged the US to step up pressure on Russia to end the war.

But he struck a more upbeat note on Dec 21, adding that “constructive” talks between US, European and Ukrainian negotiators were “moving at a fairly rapid pace”, while cautioning that “much depends on whether Russia feels the need to end the war for real”.

“Unfortunately, the real signals coming from Russia remain only negative – assaults along the front line, Russian war crimes in border areas and continued strikes against our infrastructure,” Mr Zelensky posted on X.

Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev arrived on Dec 20 in Miami
, where Ukrainian and European teams have also been gathering since Dec 19 for the negotiations, mediated by US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Mr Jared Kushner.

Mr Dmitriev “will return to Moscow, make his report, and we will discuss what to do next”, Mr Ushakov said.

The top Kremlin aide also told Russian journalists on Dec 21 that he had “not seen” the revised US proposal to end the conflict following negotiations between US, Ukrainian and European teams.

Washington stunned Ukraine and its European allies in November by presenting a 28-point plan to end the war widely seen as caving in to the Kremlin’s key demands, which has since been redrafted following Kyiv and Europe’s involvement.

While little is known of the latest version, Kyiv is likely to be expected to surrender some territory – a prospect resented by many Ukrainians – in exchange for US security guarantees.

Moscow’s troops have been steadily advancing at the eastern front in recent months, with Mr Putin on Dec 19 hailing the Russian army’s territorial gains, and threatening more in the coming weeks.

Putin-Macron call?

The last time Ukrainian and Russian envoys held official direct talks was in July in Istanbul, which led to prisoner swops but little else in the way of concrete progress to stop the fighting.

Russian and European involvement in Miami marks a step forward from before, when the Americans held separate talks with each side in different locations.

But the extremely strained relations between the two sides after nearly four years of Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II have cast doubt over the prospect of direct Ukraine-Russia talks.

Moscow, which sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022
, also argues that European involvement in the talks only hinders the process.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin, however, expressed his willingness to talk to French President Emmanuel Macron about the conflict.

Mr Macron held several calls with Mr Putin in the run-up to and during the early months of the conflict, in an attempt to engage the veteran Kremlin leader.

Mr Putin has “expressed readiness to engage in dialogue with Macron”, Mr Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti. “Therefore, if there is mutual political will, then this can only be assessed positively.”

In response, Mr Macron’s office said Mr Putin’s stated willingness to talk was “welcome”.

Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky said on social media platform X that “over the past week, Russia has launched approximately 1,300 attack drones, nearly 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and nine missiles of various types against Ukraine”, with the Odesa region and the south of the country “hit particularly hard”. AFP