Russia and Ukraine hold US-backed talks after Trump says broad deal is possible

Russian and Ukrainian officials met on Tuesday for their first US-brokered talks since February, ​after President Donald Trump suggested last week that a broad deal was possible on ending the war in Ukraine and guaranteeing security ‌in Europe. Russian state news agency RIA reported the start of what is scheduled to be two days of talks, in which Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are to mediate between the two warring sides.

More than 4-1/2 years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and with Russian forces holding about a fifth of the country, Moscow and Kyiv remain ​far apart - despite Trump’s optimism - on terms for a possible settlement. The new American drive for a deal has galvanised European officials into pushing ​for a place at the table to seek an end to the continent’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

Before the ⁠start of the main meeting, Kyiv’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said Ukrainian officials had met separately with European, NATO and EU representatives and the two American ​envoys.