Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin leader's special representative, started talks with an American delegation in Miami on 31 January, Russian Interfax reports.
The negotiations began at 8 am local time (3 pm Kyiv time), according to the Russian news agency.
On Saturday morning, Dmitriev announced his arrival in Miami.
The Miami meeting follows trilateral talks between Ukraine, the United States, and Russia that concluded on 24 January in Abu Dhabi. Diana Davityan, spokesperson for National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov, confirmed the conclusion of those negotiations. Presidential advisor Dmytro Lytvyn stated that the delegation is expected to report to President Zelenskyy on how the negotiations proceeded.
Umerov said the meeting on 23 January addressed parameters for ending the war and "further logic" of the negotiation process. Following the sessions, the parties agreed to continue consultations on 1 February.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the Abu Dhabi talks as constructive. According to Axios, the next round of trilateral negotiations between Ukraine, the US, and Russia in the United Arab Emirates is scheduled for Sunday, 1 February.
Axios also reported that on 24 January in Abu Dhabi, bilateral negotiations between Ukraine and Russia took place without American participation, alongside the trilateral format.
A source told Russian state news agency TASS that "it cannot be said that the meeting on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi passed without results, there are some." The same source indicated that dialogue in the trilateral format "may be continued in the coming days."
Reuters reported, citing a UAE government representative, that the negotiations took place "in a constructive and positive atmosphere."
Territorial issues feature among the negotiation topics. Ukraine insists on discussing territories based on the current line of contact, while Russia continues to demand the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the unoccupied part of Donetsk Oblast. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators Wednesday that Donetsk's territorial status remains the central unresolved issue in US-mediated talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine, calling the disagreement "very difficult" to resolve.
"It's still a bridge we have to cross. It's still a gap, but at least we've been able to narrow down the issue set to one central one, and it will probably be a very difficult one," Rubio said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, according to Reuters.
