On the morning of December 5, the second round of negotiations took place.
An Axios interlocutor said that US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the head of the White House's son-in-law Jared Kushner informed in detail the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Rustem Umerov and the Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Andrei Gnatov about their meeting with the illegitimate Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on December 2, as well as about new ideas that could help overcome differences.
US officials believe that a compromise is achievable even on the most sensitive – territorial – issue.
The Ukrainian delegation called the meeting with US representatives, which ended late in the evening on December 4, constructive.
Context
The delegations of Ukraine and the United States have already held four meetings on the “peace plan.” The first was held on November 23 in Geneva, the second on November 30 in Miami, the third on December 4 in Miami, and the fourth meeting was held in the same city on December 5.
Earlier, on December 2, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that there were 20 points in the “peace plan,” but “some things still need to be worked out.” The three most important and sensitive issues are territories, frozen assets of the Russian Federation and security guarantees for Ukraine, the president indicated.
The media reported that there are three pillars on which the Russian Federation will not compromise in peace negotiations on Ukraine: the territory of Donbass, limiting the number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and recognition of the occupied territories of Ukraine by America and Europe.
On December 2, Putin, Vitkoff and Kushner at negotiations in Moscow for about five hours discussed several projects of the “peace plan” to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian war, assistant to the illegitimate Russian president Yuri Ushakov reported after the meeting. According to him, “no compromise was found” on the territorial issue. One of the key issues at the negotiations was Ukraine’s membership in NATO, Ushakov pointed out.
On December 3, Trump opined that Putin “would like to end the war.” However, on December 4, Putin said that the aggressor country of the Russian Federation would allegedly “in any case” seize the Ukrainian Donbass and other territories of southern Ukraine – “militarily or otherwise.”
Putin's new statements indicate that he does not intend to retreat from his maximalist goals in the war against Ukraine, Politico explained.
