The American side wants to finalize the issues of territory and security guarantees, Axios reported on Sunday. But as POLITICO reported earlier, Zelenskyy will make the final decision on any territorial issues.
“The Americans want to finalize it completely, Ukrainians want to know what they will bring to Moscow,” the official said.
Zelenskyy is not at the talks, which are being led on the Ukrainian side by State Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov. The U.S. delegation includes Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
In official statements before the negotiations, the two sides were diplomatic. Rubio, who leads the U.S. delegation, spoke of the important progress made during the past few weeks, including during talks in Geneva the previous weekend.
“The end goal is obviously not just the end of the war. Obviously, that’s central and fundamental,” he said. “It’s also about securing an end to the war that leaves Ukraine sovereign and independent and with an opportunity at real prosperity.”
The American side said it expected to make “even more progress” on Sunday. Umerov, meanwhile, started by expressing gratitude to the U.S. for its efforts to end the war over the past 10 months, and thanked Washington “for hearing Ukraine.”