By Yuliia Dysa
KYIV, May 7 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, has arrived in Miami for a series of meetings with U.S. representatives as peace talks on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine have stalled in recent months.
Umerov is tasked with discussing a possible prisoner-of-war swap and stepping up diplomatic efforts to end the war, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X.
Kyiv hoped U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would travel to Ukraine earlier this spring, but they have been focused on the two-month-old war in Iran.
The U.S.-brokered talks are deadlocked over Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Moscow demands Kyiv pull troops back from parts of the region it has failed to capture in its four-year full-scale invasion. Ukraine says it will not cede land that it controls.
“We are in constant communication with the American side and know about the relevant contacts of our partners with the Russian side. We are working to ensure that this helps bring a dignified peace closer and guarantee security,” Zelenskiy said.
He added that Umerov received “several specific security-related instructions” regarding bilateral cooperation with the U.S. A first round of talks was scheduled for Thursday, according to a source familiar with the plans.
A White House official confirmed Umerov would meet with the U.S. officials, but gave no further details.
The last round of trilateral Ukraine-Russia talks involving U.S. representatives took place in February. Ukrainian and Russian representatives have only had separate talks with the U.S. team since.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin held a call on April 29 discussing a potential ceasefire.
Russia announced a ceasefire for May 8 to 9, when it celebrates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany and holds a military parade in Moscow, an event of high significance for the Kremlin.
Ukraine said Russia only wanted a ceasefire to protect its parade, as it worries about Ukrainian drone attacks, and offered an open-ended ceasefire starting on May 6.
Neither side agreed to the proposals. Russia threatened to strike central Kyiv if Ukraine attacked Moscow. Kyiv accused Russia of violating the ceasefire, saying it would mirror Russia’s actions.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; additional reporting by Steve Holland and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Toby Chopra, Alex Richardson and Cynthia Osterman)
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