On Thursday, envoys of US President Donald Trump were scheduled to meet with Ukrainian negotiators for the third time in two weeks to advance their plan to end the war, while his administration eased economic pressure on Russia, UNN reports with reference to AFP.
Details
According to the publication, two days after the envoys met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the US Treasury Department partially suspended measures announced by Trump in October, when he finally promised to take a tough stance on Moscow.
The US Treasury Department suspended economic sanctions against Lukoil-branded gas stations outside Russia until at least April 29.
The ban remains in place to prevent funds from returning to Russia, which has been under massive US and EU sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The publication emphasizes that Trump's sanctions have been one of the most effective means of pressure on Russia.
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Steve Witkoff, a business partner of Trump who has become an ambassador-at-large for international affairs, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, will meet in the Miami area late Thursday evening for dinner with Ukraine's chief negotiator Rustem Umerov, a US official said.
Witkoff and Kushner to meet Umerov on December 4 - AP04.12.25, 01:09 • [views_30463]
The meeting, which will be closed to the press, came two days after Trump's five-hour meeting with Putin in Moscow, which dragged on into the morning.
Trump said the envoys had a "pretty good meeting" with Putin.
Asked if Witkoff and Kushner felt Putin truly wanted to stop Russia's nearly four-year invasion, Trump replied, "He would like to end the war. That was their impression."
However, Putin has shown no public signs of a shift, while Russia is slowly but surely seizing territory in eastern Ukraine.
"It's a difficult task and a difficult mission that President Trump has taken on," Putin said of the diplomacy in an interview during his visit to India.
"Achieving consensus between opposing sides is not an easy task, but President Trump, I sincerely believe, is genuinely committed to it," he said, according to India Today.
"I think we should participate in these efforts, not hinder them."
Putin's visit to India, a historical partner of Russia, comes amid a gradual easing of his international isolation.
In August, Trump welcomed Putin to Alaska, where they failed to make clear progress on resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
Context
As the publication notes, Trump has previously speculated that Russia will inevitably gain more territory, and that it is more beneficial for Ukraine to settle the conflict.
The first version of the US plan involves Ukraine ceding territories that Russia failed to conquer on the battlefield in exchange for security assurances that do not meet Ukraine's aspirations for NATO.
Witkoff and Kushner have been working on changes since meeting with the Ukrainian side on November 23 in Geneva. The parties met again the following week in Miami in the presence of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.