The Albany Gazette - Third day of Ukraine settlement talks to begin in Miami

Washington last month stunned Ukraine and its European allies by presenting a 28-point plan to end the war, widely seen as caving in to the Kremlin's key demands, which has since been redrafted following Kyiv and Europe's involvement.

Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev "should receive information about what has been developed by the Americans and Europeans" in the plan and report that back to Moscow later, Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV.

Meanwhile, a video on Russian state media showed Dmitriev arriving in a motorcade to the Shell Bay luxury golf club, which belongs to US envoy Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's former real estate partner.

Ukrainian top negotiator Rustem Umerov, a former defence minister, said he was about to begin a third day of talks with the Americans in Miami.

Dmitriev, a former Goldman Sachs banker, did not bring any new message from President Vladimir Putin and his mission in Miami was just to "obtain information," Peskov added.

While little is known of the latest version, Kyiv is likely to be expected to surrender some territory -- a prospect resented by many Ukrainians -- in exchange for US security guarantees.

The Moscow and Kyiv envoys were due to separately meet with Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, as the Kremlin ruled out three-way talks earlier. European envoys were also in town, Ukraine said earlier.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the talks as "constructive" and said they were "moving at a fairly rapid pace", while cautioning that "much depends on whether Russia feels the need to end the war for real."

"Unfortunately, the real signals coming from Russia remain only negative: assaults along the frontline, Russian war crimes in border areas, and continued strikes against our infrastructure," Zelensky posted on X.

- War rages on -

Moscow's troops have been steadily advancing at the eastern front in recent months, with Putin on Friday hailing the Russian army's territorial gains -- and threatening more in the coming weeks.

Just over the week, "Russia has launched approximately 1,300 attack drones, nearly 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and 9 missiles of various types" against Ukraine, Zelensky said.

Most of them have pummelled the Black Sea region of Odesa, where relentless strikes wrought havoc on ports, bridges and energy facilities, killing eight people on Saturday.

While in the eastern Sumy region, Russian troops attempted a breakthrough in an area previously spared from an intense ground offensive, and Ukraine said 50 people were forcibly moved from a local village.

"Russian invaders have stolen five dozen civilian people, mostly elderly women, from a tiny Ukrainian village Grabovske, right across the state border in the Sumy region," Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said.

Russia did not officially comment on the matter.

- Putin-Macron call? -

Peskov said on Sunday that Putin expressed his willingness to talk with France's Emmanuel Macron on the conflict.

Macron held several calls with Putin in the run-up to and during the early months of the conflict, in an attempt to press the veteran Kremlin leader on the war.

Putin has "expressed readiness to engage in dialogue with Macron", Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti.

In response, Macron's office said Putin's stated willingness to talk was "welcome", but stressed that any discussion with Moscow would be conducted "in full transparency" with Zelensky and European allies.

With mutual concerns about expansionist ambitions and almost complete distrust, the relations between the top European powers and Moscow are strained.

Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, sees Europe as pro-war and argues its participation in the talks only hinders them.

While European leaders see Russia as increasingly expansionist, especially after a string of sabotage, cyber-attacks and drone incursions throughout the war.

But Macron earlier in the week said he believed Europe should reach back out to Putin, rather than leaving the United States alone to take the lead in negotiations to end the continent's bloodiest conflict since World War II.

(N.Miller--TAG)