Rubio says

U.S. and Ukrainian officials completed about four hours of talks Sunday aimed at finding an end to the conflict. war between russia and ukraine.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Sunday’s session, which included special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, and Ukrainian delegates, as “productive and useful,” but talks will continue this week in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“We don’t just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever. So that they never face another invasion. And just as important, we want them to enter an era of true prosperity,” he said. “It’s also about the terms that set Ukraine up for long-term prosperity… I think we’re building on that today, but there’s more work to do.”

Witkoff will travel to Moscow on Monday, a US official later confirmed to News themezone.

The negotiations come at a delicate time for Ukraine as it continues to push back Russian forces that invaded in 2022 while grappling with a domestic corruption scandal.

Diplomats have focused on revisions to a proposal plan developed in the negotiations between Washington and Moscow. That plan has been criticized as being too tilted toward Russian demands. During Sunday’s meeting, Rubio focused on reassuring Ukraine.

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s national security secretary, thanked American negotiators in brief comments after the meeting but provided few details of their discussion.

“We discussed all important issues that are important for Ukraine, for the Ukrainian people and for us, he was very supportive. We already had a successful meeting in Geneva and today we will continue that success,” Umerov said. “So far, this meeting was productive and successful in the subsequent stages; we look forward to keeping you informed.”

Umerov has participated in the ongoing talks. But until now, Ukraine’s chief negotiator had been Andriy Yermak, the powerful chief of staff of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. On Friday, Zelenskyy announced Yermak’s resignation, after anti-corruption investigators searched his home.

Zelenskyy’s government has been hit by the consequences of a scandal of more than 100 million dollars embezzled from the energy sector through bribes paid by contractors, leading to new internal pressures for Zelenskyy.

Just a week ago, Rubio met with Yermak in Geneva and both sides said the talks had been positive in crafting a revised peace plan.

Other members of the Ukrainian delegation included Andrii Hnatov, head of Ukraine’s armed forces, and presidential adviser Oleksandr Bevz.

The plan, which Trump has since downplayed as a “concept” or a “map” that needs to be “fine-tuned,” would have imposed limits on the size of Ukraine’s military, prevented the country from joining NATO and required Ukraine to hold elections within 100 days. Negotiators have indicated that the framework has changed, but it is not clear how its provisions have been modified.

He had initially planned for Ukraine to cede the entire eastern region of the Donbas to Russia, a sticking point for Kyiv.

Trump said Tuesday that he would send Witkoff and perhaps Kushner to Moscow this week to meet with Putin about the plan. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in comments published Sunday on Russian state television, said Putin would see Witkoff before Thursday, when Putin leaves for India.

Both Witkoff and Kushner, like Trump, come from a real estate world that values ​​deals over the conventions of diplomacy. The two were also behind a 20-point proposal that led to a ceasefire in Gaza.

Zelenskyy wrote in X that the Ukrainian delegation would “quickly and substantially develop the necessary steps to end the war.”

In his late-night speech on Saturday, Zelenskyy said the American side was “demonstrating a constructive approach.”

“In the coming days it is feasible to take concrete steps to determine how to bring the war to a dignified end,” he said.