Trump and Putin’s emissaries hold a “productive” meeting in the U.S. about Ukraine

Washington/Moscow.- The envoy of Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, and that of the Kremlin, Kiril Dmitriev, held a “productive” meeting this Saturday in the United States to find a solution to the conflict in Ukraine after almost four years of war.

The meeting took place one day before a second round of three-way negotiations between delegations from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States is held in Abu Dhabi.

“Today in Florida, Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev held productive and constructive meetings as part of the United States’ mediation effort to move towards a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian conflict,” Witkoff stated in a statement.

In addition to Witkoff, the US delegation included Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, Donald Trump; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; and White House advisor Josh Gruenbaum.

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“We are encouraged by this meeting that Russia is working to secure peace in Ukraine,” Witkoff added. For his part, Dmitriev confirmed on the social network X that he had a “constructive meeting with the US peace delegation”. The envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin detailed that there was also “a productive debate on the Economic Working Group between the United States and Russia”.

Ukraine would join the energy truce if Russia stops attacks on its electricity system

It is planned that Abu Dhabi will host a second round of three-way talks on Sunday, following those held last week, which were the first direct and public negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.

This second round comes preceded by a partial truce in which attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ceased.

Trump announced on Thursday that he had asked Putin to halt attacks on the Ukrainian energy system for a week due to the cold wave, something the Kremlin accepted, although it indicated that the partial truce would end this Sunday. For his part, the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced that Ukraine was joining the energy truce: “If Russia does not attack our energy system, whether it be the generation capacity or any other element, we will not attack its energy system,” he said. This Saturday, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported only attacks on the transport infrastructure related to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and did not strike energy facilities in the previous days.