Kushner and Witkoff are very accomplished business people. I'm sure they're good negotiators, but they're not subject to Senate confirmation and they're not subject to oversight.
Brussels had some strong sentiments today about what a future peace deal between Russia and Ukraine should look like. EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said she plans to send around a list of ideas to the bloc's 27 member states in the coming days, outlining what demands they believe should be put to Moscow. She stressed that the burden should be on Russia to make concessions.
Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are set to begin the second day of talks in Abu Dhabi, aiming to end Moscow's full-scale invasion, which has lasted nearly four years. The first day of trilateral talks in the Emirati capital concluded on Wednesday with Kyiv describing the negotiations as "substantive and productive," though there was no apparent breakthrough. The main stumbling block in the negotiations is the fate of the territory in eastern Ukraine.
Leaders of Ukraine's allies gathered Tuesday in Paris for key talks that could help determine the country's security after any potential peace deal is reached with Russia. But prospects for progress are uncertain: The Trump administration's focus is shifting to Venezuela while U.S. suggestions of a Greenland takeover are causing tension with Europe, and Moscow shows no signs of budging from its demands in its nearly 4-year-old invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday told reporters that President Donald Trump is considering sending U.S. troops to his country. In recent days, Trump has spoken with both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war in the region. Those peace efforts were further complicated when Russia launched strikes on Kyiv over the weekend the day before Trump and Zelensky met at Mar-a-Lago.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed on Monday that the attack had taken place on Putin's residence in northwestern Russia's Novgorod region, using 91 long-range strike drones. list of 4 itemsend of list Lavrov said air defence systems shot down the aerial attack, and added that no one was injured. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said the strike took place on Sunday, practically immediately after talks held in Florida between United States President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy on negotiations to end Russia's war on Ukraine.
Officials from Russia and the United States ended a day of peace talks in the southern US state of Florida and will continue their efforts on Sunday. Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev told reporters that the meeting with US counterparts Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had been constructive. "The discussions are proceeding constructively. They began earlier and will continue today, and will also continue tomorrow," Dmitriev said.