Image Credit: CHANDAN KHANNA / Contributor / Getty 
On Sunday Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner spoke with Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council head Rustem Umerov and other officials from Kiev in Florida about the ongoing border disputes that have been holding up a peace treaty with Russia. That meeting was described as difficult and intense but productive. The developments of this meeting will be forwarded to the Kremlin this week when Witkoff meets Russian officials in Moscow.
Rubio reported the progress made following Sunday’s meeting:
MARCO RUBIO: I apologize because I’m pressed for time. I think we both are, but just want to update you. We had another very productive session, building off Geneva, building off the events of this week. As I told you earlier this morning, our goal here is to end the war, but it’s more than just to end the war. We don’t just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever, so never again will they face another invasion. And equally importantly, we want them to enter an age of true prosperity. We want the Ukrainian people to emerge from this war, not just to rebuild their country, but to build it back in a way that will be stronger and more prosperous than it’s ever been. And so this is comprehensive, what we’re working on here today. It’s not just about the terms that end fighting. It’s about also the terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity. I thought we started laying the groundwork for that, most certainly in Geneva. I think we continue that work in our communications throughout the week. I think we built on that again today, but there’s more work to be done. This is delicate. It’s complicated. There are a lot of moving parts, and obviously there’s another party involved here that they’ll have to be a part of the equation. And that will continue later this week, when Mr. Witkoff travels to Moscow, although we’ve also been in touch in varying degrees with the Russian side, but we have a pretty good understanding of their views as well. So much work remains, but today was again a very productive and useful session where I think additional progress was made, and we continue to be realistic about how difficult this is, but optimistic, particularly given the fact that as we’ve made progress, I think there is a shared vision here that this is not just about ending the war, which is very important. It is about securing Ukraine’s future, a future that we hope will be more prosperous than it’s ever been.
RUSTEM UMEROV: Once again, we are grateful to American people, American leadership and great team with State Secretary Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner for their tremendous work with us. Our objective is prosperous, strong Ukraine. We were discussing about the future of Ukraine. We discussed all the important matters that are important for Ukraine, for Ukrainian people, and US was super supportive. We worked. We already had a successful meeting in Geneva, and today, we continue this success. So at the moment, this meeting was productive and successful. On the later stages, hopefully we’ll keep you updated. Thank you very much.
“This presumably is a reference to security guarantees, which were outlined in the Trump-proposed plan and likened to Article 5-like protections, something which Moscow is likely to reject if it does actually invite the possibility of future NATO military intervention,” ZeroHedge said.
“It was intense but not negative. We really appreciate serious U.S. engagement. Our position is that we have to make everything to help U.S. succeed without losing our country and preventing another aggression from happening,” one of the Ukrainian officials wrote to Axios after the meeting.
Interestingly, Umerov held a one-on-one meeting with Witkoff, the American official who is now set to meet with Russian officials some time this week.
“We have made significant progress in advancing a just peace and in bringing our positions closer to those of the American side. Our key goals — security, sovereignty, and a reliable peace — remain unchanged and are shared by the American side,” Umerov wrote on Telegram after the talks.
President Donald Trump relayed his take on Sunday’s meeting to a reporter on Sunday night:
“I think there’s a good chance we can make a deal,” Trump said.
Umerov also called Ukraine’s Dictator Vladimir Zelensky to relay the developments of Sunday’s meeting.
For his part, Zelensky said that Sunday’s talk had a constructive dynamic:
Today, following the work of the teams in the United States, head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov reported on the main parameters of the dialogue, its emphases, and some preliminary results. It is important that the talks have a constructive dynamic and that all issues were discussed openly and with a clear focus on ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty and national interests. I am grateful to the United States, to President Trump’s team, and to the President personally for the time that is being invested so intensively in defining the steps to end the war. We will continue working. I look forward to receiving a full report from our team during a personal meeting.
Similar to what happened the weekend prior however, Zelensky followed up Sunday’s American/Ukrainian discussions with his European enablers – a move that has derailed peace on multiple occasions.
We had a very productive discussion on key priorities with our European friends. The format is truly useful — a significant part of Europe together — and it greatly helps Europe defend our shared interests. Ukraine, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Italy, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, the European Commission, the European Council, and the NATO Secretary General. We discussed the substance of the Ukrainian delegation’s talks with the American side in Florida. We are preparing meetings in Europe. We share the view that the war must be brought to a fair end. It is important to make progress on developing security guarantees and a long-term foundation for our resilience — for both Ukraine and Europe. We will continue our coordination. Thank you to everyone for your support!
Witkoff is expected to submit an updated peace plan during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week. That update will incorporate changes made in the Ukrainian and European negotiations.
Washington allegedly wants Kiev to hold elections for their Dictator as soon as possible and cede territories to Moscow.
“Still, the Ukrainian side didn’t look happy based on the few photographs of the meeting’s start which emerged. The Trump administration is definitely in the driver’s seat, and Europe is not even at the table,” ZeroHedge said, citing the collapsing Ukrainian military.
On Sunday CNN reported that Ukraine may end up being barred from joining NATO as part of a peace deal, in line with the recent 28-point plan that the Europeans picked apart.
However, the CNN source now says negotiators have discussed a possible scenario in which Ukraine would effectively be barred from joining the US-led Western military alliance via arrangements that would have to be negotiated directly between NATO member states and Moscow.
“Ukraine will not be pushed to officially, in the legal sense, reject this aspiration,” the source told CNN.
“But if the United States has something to agree upon with Russia bilaterally, or if Russia wants to receive some assurances from NATO multilaterally, then this is not engaging Ukraine in the decision-making process,” the source added.
A final decision on what would be a highly sensitive compromise – likely to be unpopular among NATO states – has not yet been taken and would ultimately be made by the Ukrainian president, the source stressed to CNN.
But it suggests that, as US-Ukraine negotiations proceed, and as Witkoff travels to Moscow for talks at the Kremlin, creative solutions to tiptoe around Kyiv’s red lines are being explored.
Rubio has made it clear Russia must also have its interests catered to in order to stop the war.
“There are a lot of moving parts and obviously there’s another party involved here that’ll have to be a part of the equation and that’ll continue later this week when Mr. Witkoff travels to Moscow,” Rubio said.
Despite being known as a NeoCon warmonger, Senator Lindsey Graham actually rejected Ukraine’s NATO aspirations and nuclear dreams.
“However, the suggested security guarantees to be given to Ukraine in this opinion piece are far beyond what is possible. It is imperative at this critical time that any analysis should meet the test of what is reasonably possible. The security guarantees mentioned, including accession into NATO and placing nuclear weapons in Ukraine, will not fly in my view,” Graham said.
The Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, had a different take however. He said NATO must be “more aggressive” towards Russia.
“We are studying everything … being more aggressive or being proactive instead of reactive is something that we are thinking about,” Dragone said.
He even said that a “pre-emptive strike” could be considered a “defensive action,” though it would be “further away from our normal way of thinking and behavior.”
