Russia joins talks in Miami – DW – 12/21/2025

Officials from Russia and the United States ended one-day peace talks in the southern US state of Florida and will continue their efforts on Sunday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev told reporters that the meeting with US counterparts Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner was constructive.

“The discussions are progressing constructively. They started earlier and will continue today and will continue tomorrow,” Dmitriev said.

Dmitriev had said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio could also join the talks.

Saturday’s talks with Russia come after the US spent Friday talking with Ukraine and European officials. He reported progress on security guarantees for Ukraine. However, it is unclear to what extent Moscow will accept those terms.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the United States to put more pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

“The United States should say clearly: if not diplomacy, then there will be full pressure,” Zelensky said. “Putin has not yet felt the kind of pressure that he should.”

Zelensky also called for increased arms supplies to Ukraine and sanctions on the entire Russian economy.

Earlier on Saturday, the Ukrainian president said that Washington had proposed trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States (see entry below).

Sports officials from Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia have urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not to ease sanctions against athletes from Russia and Belarus.

In a joint letter sent to IOC President Kirsty Coventry, the Baltic Trio’s respective National Olympic Committees said they had “fundamental concerns” about the recent IOC recommendation to allow Russian and Belarusian youth athletes to compete internationally under their countries’ flags.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus are only allowed to compete as neutrals in some sports, while they are completely banned from participating in others.

The sanctions were imposed in view of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, which Belarus supports.

“We strongly oppose any measures that would allow athletes representing Russia or Belarus to participate under the national flag, national anthem, colors, uniforms or team entries while the ongoing aggression against Ukraine continues,” the statement said.

It added, “We firmly believe that the credibility of the Olympics depends on the continued defense of peace, human dignity and respect for international law.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev has reached Miami.

Russian sources told AFP and Reuters news agencies that Dmitriev was set for talks with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the United States has offered a possible new format for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, which would include American and possibly European envoys.

“The US said they would hold a separate meeting with representatives of Russia. And as far as I understand, they proposed the following format: Ukraine, the US, Russia and, since there are representatives of Europe, maybe also of Europe,” Zelensky told reporters in Kiev.

Kiev will decide on the format after assessing whether bilateral discussions with US negotiators resumed on Friday. Zelensky said he planned to discuss the matter with Ukrainian delegation head Rustam Umerov.

Ukraine and Russia have not held face-to-face talks since July, but US-led shuttle diplomacy to end the nearly four-year-long war has intensified in recent weeks.

US negotiators were due to meet Russian officials in Florida on Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that no elections in Ukraine could be held in the Russian-occupied part of the country.

He also said that the voting process can take place only when security is ensured.

Zelensky stressed that Moscow should play no role in organizing elections in Ukraine.

His statement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested stopping the attacks so that presidential voting could take place in Kiev.

Zelensky said, “It is not Putin who decides when and in what format elections will be held in Ukraine.”

He said Ukraine’s Foreign Minister has started work on the necessary infrastructure to enable Ukrainians living abroad to vote.

The Ukrainian military says they used drones overnight to attack and damage a Russian warship in the Caspian Sea, about 1,800 kilometers (1,118.4 miles) off the Ukrainian coast.

The General Staff in Kiev wrote on Telegram on Saturday that the Russian ship ‘Ochotnik’ was on patrol near an oil and gas production platform when it was attacked.

Additionally, a drilling platform belonging to Lukoil was also damaged. According to the General Staff, the facility helps supply the Russian army.

That information could not be independently verified, and there has been no confirmation from Russian officials.

Lukoil was sanctioned by the US Treasury in late October along with Russia’s second-largest oil company, Rosneft, over what Washington called Moscow’s “lack of serious commitment to the peace process to end the war in Ukraine.”

Ukraine, which has recently stepped up attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, says they are legitimate targets because they are used to finance Russia’s war effort.

Eight people were killed and at least 27 injured after a Russian missile attack on port infrastructure in Odessa late Friday, emergency services said.

According to a Telegram post by the Ukrainian emergency service, some of the injured were on the bus that was at the center of the attack.

Oleh Kipper, head of the Odessa region, said the port was attacked with ballistic missiles. As a result trucks and cars in the parking lot were damaged.

There was no immediate confirmation of the attack from Moscow. However, on Saturday morning the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had attacked unspecified “transportation and storage infrastructure used by the Ukrainian armed forces” on Friday.

They also claimed to have targeted energy facilities supplying Kiev’s war effort.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed to have captured two more villages in eastern Ukraine.

The Defense Ministry, in separate statements on Saturday, claimed to have captured the village of Svitley in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and the village of Vysoke in the northeastern Sumy region.

The claims could not be independently verified and Ukrainian officials have not yet commented.

New talks are set to take place between Ukrainian, European and United States negotiators as they look for agreement on a peace plan that would end the war.

The negotiators, who are already in Florida, will meet Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and the US President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Meanwhile, Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev announced on social media platform X that he too is going to Miami.

It is unlikely that Dmitriev will meet with either the Ukrainian or European parties as relations remain strained.

Moscow has claimed that Europe’s involvement in helping negotiate a peace deal would only hinder the process.

The US is pushing for a peace plan under which Washington would guarantee Ukraine’s security, but it would also mean Kiev would be expected to surrender some territory.

Kiev has thus refused to cede territory to Moscow.

Ahead of Saturday’s discussion, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised that Ukraine would not be forced to make any agreements it was uncomfortable with, saying, “There will be no peace deal unless Ukraine agrees to it.”

Rubio said he might attend talks in Miami but did not commit to doing so.

Thank you for joining our coverage of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Talks between the United States, Ukraine, Europe and Russia will be held in Miami on Saturday as all sides seek to agree on a peace plan.

However, it is unlikely that Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev will meet with Ukrainian or European negotiators Because tension remains between the parties.

Meanwhile, fighting continues, with Moscow claiming to have captured two villages in Ukraine’s Sumy and Donetsk regions and at least eight people killed after an attack on the port of Odessa.