Russia Says Florida Talks 'Constructive,' Will Continue -- But Both Sides Tight-Lipped

Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin’s senior negotiator, declared that Russia and the United States are speaking “constructively” in Florida and said peace negotiations would continue on December 21, although no details were immediately provided.

"The discussions are proceeding constructively. They began earlier and ⁠will continue ⁠today, and ‌will also ⁠continue tomorrow," Dmitriev told reporters on December 20 on the sidelines of the talks near Miami.

All sides involved in the US-brokered peace process have regularly cited "progress" or made other similar characterizations without providing details.

The White House did not immediately comment on the talks, although Reuters cited an unnamed US official as saying the talks had concluded for the day.

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US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared ⁠Kushner, are believed to be representing Washington. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier said he might attend the weekend talks, but no details were disclosed.

Trump was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, about 110 kilometers north of Miami, but was not expected to attend the talks.

Proposal Narrowed To 20 Points

The discussions are the latest step in Trump’s efforts to bring about an end to Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine, which has cost tens of thousands of lives and is nearing the four-year mark.

Trump in November began pressing Kyiv to accept a 28-point proposal that critics said was heavily skewed in Russia's favor.

Ukraine and its European backers scrambled to make amendments to protect Ukraine's interests on territory, security guarantees for Kyiv, and other issues, with reports suggesting the plan now consists of 20 points and takes in more of Kyiv's interests.

Prior to the Florida talks, Rubio insisted that Washington would force neither side into a deal.

“We can’t force Ukraine to make a deal. We can’t force Russia to make a deal. They have to want to make a deal,” he said.

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“I think we’ve made progress [in the process], but we have a ways to go. And obviously the hardest issues are always the last issues,” Rubio said.

Details of the plans being hammered out remain sketchy, but the broad outlines envisage Ukraine making territorial concessions in return for security guarantees.

Intense Diplomatic, Military Activity

The latest comments follow another week of intense diplomatic and military activity as Russia continues to strike Ukrainian civilian, infrastructure, and military sites while Kyiv looks to defend ground in eastern Ukraine and strikes back at what it says are military-related targets inside Russia.

During the week, US envoys held talks with European and Ukrainian officials, a European Union summit approved a $106 billion loan to Kyiv, and Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an uncompromising 4½-hour news conference at which he repeated oft-stated hard-line demands along with debatable claims of battlefield advances.

News agencies quoted sources as saying that US intelligence reports have warned that Putin seeks to capture all of Ukraine and reclaim territory formerly belonging to the Soviet empire -- which would contradict official US assertions that Russia seeks a peace deal. Putin has long claimed he is no threat to Europe.

"The intelligence has always been that Putin wants more," Mike Quigley, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, told Reuters. "The Europeans are convinced of it. The ⁠Poles are absolutely convinced of it. The Baltics think they're first.”

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Ukraine's Odesa Region Under Attack

Dmitriev, who as head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund has been under US sanctions since February 2022, claimed that “warmongers” were seeking to undermine Washington’s peace efforts.

His words followed a Russian missile attack on Odesa and its suburbs the previous evening that killed eight people and injured at least 25.

Russian forces have been attacking the Odesa region almost daily since the beginning of December. Tens of thousands of people have been left without electricity amid cold winter weather. Water supplies have also been affected.

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On December 20, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Kremlin was trying to sever Ukraine's access to the Black Sea following days of intensified air strikes on ports and energy sites in the Odesa region and elsewhere.

"The situation in the Odesa region is harsh due to Russian strikes on port infrastructure and logistics. Russia is once again trying to restrict Ukraine's access to the sea and block our coastal regions," Zelenskyy told a news conference in Kyiv.

The Kremlin's goal is "to sow chaos, to exert moral pressure during winter...so that there is no fuel, no food supplies, so that there are problems with medical supplies," he said.

Russia has denied targeting civilians since launching its full-scale assault in February 2022 but has repeatedly struck non-military infrastructure including schools, hospitals, power facilities, and residential buildings.