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Sunday Talks in Florida Test Whether Russia Is Ready for Real Peace
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Ukraine and the United States opened a new round of talks in Florida on Saturday aimed at advancing a settlement to Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to Reuters on March 21.
Ukrainian and US negotiators held the meeting without Russian representatives present, with more discussions scheduled for Sunday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and chief negotiator Rustem Umerov both confirmed that the negotiations would continue through the weekend.
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Umerov wrote that the sides discussed key issues and next steps in the negotiation track, with special focus on aligning their positions to produce practical results.
The White House described the meeting as constructive and noted that the talks were focused on narrowing remaining differences to move closer to a comprehensive peace agreement.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy stressed the importance of maintaining diplomacy. “It is important for all of us in the world that diplomacy continues and that we are trying to end this war. No one wants this war,” he stated, before adding that the key question is whether Russia is ready to move honestly toward a real end to the fighting.
The latest session follows earlier US-brokered talks in the United Arab Emirates this year and another round in Geneva last month.
Those meetings produced agreements on prisoner exchanges but no broader breakthrough toward ending the war, now in its fourth year since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Reuters also reported that the talks were initially expected to include Russian negotiators and take place in Abu Dhabi.
Territory remains the main obstacle, with Moscow demanding that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas region, including areas that Russian forces do not control, a condition Kyiv rejects.
The session also followed a renewed Ukrainian effort to push negotiations forward through direct high-level engagement with the United States.
Kyiv was sending a senior delegation to the United States for talks on March 21 aimed at reviving negotiations on ending Russia’s full-scale war, after what Zelenskyy described as a pause in contacts.
The group includes Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, lawmaker Davyd Arakhamia, and Foreign Ministry representative Sergii Kyslytsya, following a detailed meeting with Zelenskyy before departure.
The trip follows an earlier round in Geneva, where the most tangible movement reportedly came on military issues, while a meeting initially planned for early March was pushed back amid tensions around Iran.
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