The question of postwar security guarantees for Kyiv remained unresolved after peace negotiations between the US and Ukraine that took place on 30 November, reports Wall Street Journal.
Another unresolved issue is whether Russia will insist on international recognition of the territories it has occupied since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
According to WSJ, the talks covered possible timetables for new elections in Ukraine and the prospect of land swaps between Russia and Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after more than four hours of negotiations that there is still "more work to be done." He specifically noted the existence of another party and the planned visit of US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow.
"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," Rubio said.
He characterized the negotiations as "productive."
"We remain realistic about how complicated this all looks, but we also realistically view the progress that is already happening. And it's not just about stopping the war, but about building a successful future for Ukraine," the Secretary of State said.
The Ukrainian delegation was led by Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, replacing Andriy Yermak, who resigned amid a corruption scandal. "Our objective is a prosperous, strong Ukraine," Umerov said, standing next to Rubio. "This meeting was productive and successful."
Kushner and Witkoff will fly to Russia on Monday to continue the talks, according to a senior US official. President Trump said Witkoff will likely meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin sometime next week.
President Zelenskyy had said that Ukrainian and US delegations would meet to continue coordinating the points of the peace plan developed in Geneva "into a form that will lead to a path toward peace and security guarantees."
These negotiations follow the Trump administration's preparation of a "peace plan" for the war. Initially it contained 28 points, including demands that Ukraine cede the remainder of Donbas, cut the size of its armed forces in half, freeze the line of contact in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, and recognize Russian as a state language. The plan also envisioned lifting sanctions on Russia and ending investigations into war crimes by Russian military personnel.
This plan was widely criticized both in Ukraine and abroad as a list of Russian demands and essentially forced capitulation.
Later, representatives of the United States and Ukraine met in Geneva, where they prepared a revised framework document. Financial Times, citing its own sources, reported that the new peace plan was reduced to 19 points. According to the publication, the new version incorporated counter-proposals from Britain, Germany and France regarding military limitations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that the updated version of the draft peace plan does not contain all 28 points that were there previously. He also suggested that the proposal "may now become workable."
The discussions around land swaps have been particularly complicated, according to WSJ. Russia and Ukraine would need to address the legality of territorial changes, because both their constitutions prohibit ceding territories without legal changes. Any change to Ukraine's borders would require a nationwide referendum.
Ukraine's wartime powers freeze presidential and parliamentary elections. The prospect of holding new elections is a politically fraught issue amid the war and could open Ukraine to election-interference campaigns from Russia.
A day before the US and Ukrainian delegations met in Florida, Russia bombarded Ukraine with a nearly 10-hour air assault with hundreds of missiles and drones that struck residential buildings and energy infrastructure.
At a news conference last week, Putin said he was ready for "serious" discussions to end the war but reiterated demands that Ukraine must withdraw its troops from Donetsk and Luhansk. "When Ukrainian troops leave the territories they hold, then the fighting will stop," Putin said. "If they don't, then we'll achieve that through military means."
