Rubio, Witkoff host Ukrainian negotiators in Florida amid Trump’s peace push

The talks come at a delicate moment for Kyiv, which continues to battle Russian forces more than three years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

Senior members of the Trump administration are holding high-stakes talks with Ukrainian negotiators in Florida this weekend, seeking to advance a proposed framework to end Russia’s war in Ukraine ahead of critical discussions in Moscow.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner are expected to meet a Ukrainian delegation in West Palm Beach to refine the contours of a peace plan that has been under negotiation for months. The talks come at a delicate moment for Kyiv, which continues to battle Russian forces more than three years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

The Florida meeting followed dramatic political developments in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday accepted the resignation of his influential chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, until now Kyiv’s lead negotiator with the United States. Yermak stepped down shortly after anti-corruption investigators raided his home as part of a probe into a USD 100 million embezzlement scheme involving kickbacks in the energy sector, adding internal pressure on Zelenskyy’s administration.

Rubio and Yermak had met in Geneva just a week earlier, with both sides publicly praising progress on a revised peace outline.

Ukraine’s new negotiating team now includes top military and security officials: armed forces chief Andrii Hnatov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Security Council head Rustem Umerov.

Diplomatic efforts this weekend are centred on updating a 28-point proposal earlier discussed between Washington and Moscow, a plan widely criticised in Kyiv for being overly favourable to Russian demands. Early versions contemplated Ukraine surrendering the entire Donbas region, restricting the size of its military, ruling out NATO membership and holding national elections within 100 days. Trump has since described the document as a “concept” that still requires extensive fine-tuning, and negotiators have hinted that major revisions are underway, though details remain unclear.

Trump announced on Tuesday that Witkoff and possibly Kushner would travel to Moscow in the coming days for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both men, like Trump, come from a real estate background and previously helped craft a 20-point proposal that contributed to a ceasefire in Gaza.

Zelenskyy signalled cautious optimism about the discussions. Writing on X, he said the Ukrainian delegation would “swiftly and substantively” work on steps to end the war, adding in his nightly address that Washington was showing “a constructive approach.” He said a clearer roadmap for “a dignified end” to the conflict could emerge in the coming days.

As diplomatic activity intensified, Russia launched fresh waves of drone and missile attacks targeting Kyiv and surrounding areas. At least three people were killed and dozens wounded in Saturday’s strikes on the capital region, Ukrainian officials said. Overnight attacks into Sunday left one more person dead and injured 11 when a drone slammed into a nine-story residential building in Vyshhorod, north of Kyiv.