Washington, 22 December (H.S.): U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff announced on Sunday that productive and constructive discussions unfolded over three days in Florida between American, Ukrainian, and European delegations, marking a pivotal step in the Trump administration's campaign to halt the nearly four-year Russia-Ukraine war.

Witkoff emphasized on social media that the meetings aligned stakeholders on a unified strategy prioritizing an immediate cessation of hostilities, robust security assurances for Ukraine, and frameworks for postwar reconstruction and prosperity. The Ukrainian team, comprising National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov and Armed Forces Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Andriy Hnatov, engaged deeply with U.S. counterparts including Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law.

Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, corroborated the forward momentum after Saturday's Miami session with Witkoff and Kushner, describing talks on the U.S.-proposed 20-point peace blueprint as proceeding constructively and set to resume Sunday and Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoed this via Telegram, noting his Florida-based negotiators were advancing quite quickly through war-end provisions, security guarantees, and timelines with American and European partners.

However, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov dismissed Zelenskyy's mention of prospective U.S.-brokered trilateral Ukraine-Russia-U.S. talks as premature and undiscussed, insisting Moscow adheres strictly to prior bilateral U.S. agreements from Anchorage and elsewhere while rejecting European or Ukrainian amendments.

Despite incremental battlefield gains for Russian forces, President Vladimir Putin maintains maximalist demands, including territorial concessions Kyiv firmly opposes.

Amid these developments, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets accused Russian troops of abducting roughly 50 civilians from Sumy region's Hrabovske village on Thursday, forcibly relocating them across the border by Saturday, and demanded their repatriation.

France's presidency welcomed Putin's openness to dialogue with President Emmanuel Macron, signaling potential bilateral overtures to bolster ceasefire prospects in coordination with Zelenskyy and EU allies, who pledged $105 billion in loans for Ukraine's defense and economy despite stalled Russian asset seizures.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar