This article was originally published in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Read the original article.

Ukrainian negotiators were set to meet with European officials in Brussels, and later US officials in Florida, days after a five-hour Kremlin meeting with a visiting White House delegation where President Vladimir Putin doubled down on his hard-line conditions to end the war on Ukraine.

Ahead of the December 4 meetings, Putin repeated longstanding and unbending demands on Ukraine’s sovereignty and military force in an interview with India Today.

"It all comes down to this: Either we liberate these territories by force or Ukrainian troops leave these territories and stop fighting there," Putin told the channel in a pre-recorded interview released on the eve of his trip to India.

See Also: Rubio Says 'More Work' Needed After US-Ukraine Talks, As Zelenskyy To Head To Paris

White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, met with Putin and other top officials at the Kremlin on December 2 in the latest round of shuttle negotiations to try and find an agreement to end Russia's all-out invasion.

The visit by the US delegation came almost two weeks after a US-drafted peace plan seen as heavily favorable to Russia was released. The plan echoed most, if not all of the inflexible demands Moscow has made of Ukraine since before the February 2022 invasion.

Ukrainian officials and Kyiv's European allies have since scrambled to try and craft an acceptable alternative. Ukrainian officials also met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Immediately after the December 2 meeting in Moscow, Yuri Ushakov, a veteran diplomat and Putin's top foreign policy adviser, described the talks as "constructive" but told Russian press that peace was no closer or farther away.

"The American partners have confirmed their readiness to take into account our considerations and our key proposals," Ushakov said.

However, he said, "no compromise has been found. The work will continue."

See Also: Lawyer Raises Alarm As Journalist Nika Novak Disappears From Siberian Prison

Witkoff, a real estate developer with no prior diplomatic experience, made no comment to the media before leaving Moscow. It was Witkoff's sixth trip to Moscow since January -- one indication of how difficult it has been to end the fighting, despite Trump's insistence he could end it within 24 hours of taking office.

"We see that the American side largely aligns with Russia's demands," Anton Penkovski, a political analyst, told Current Time. "In the current negotiations, they may be taking Kyiv’s tactical and strategic weaknesses into account. In this sense, the Kremlin has considerable space for maneuver and for making new demands."

Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on December 3, said Witkoff and Kushner said it appeared that Putin "would like to make a deal."

"What comes out of that meeting I can't tell you because it does take two to tango," Trump said, without elaborating. He added: "We have something pretty well worked out" with Ukraine.

"Witkoff had a reasonably good meeting with Putin. We'll see what happens," he said. "Their impression was that [Putin] would like to end the war."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the lead Ukrainian negotiator, Rustem Umerov, and Chief of the General Staff Major General Andriy Hnatov would meet with European national-security advisers in Brussels on December 4 and then travel to Florida for more talks with Witkoff and Kushner.

“Activity is at its maximum to bring this war to an end,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “And from our side, from the Ukrainian state, there will be no obstacles or delays.”

The intensify peace talks come as Russia continues to ratchet up pressure on the battlefield, claiming its forces are grinding out gains in key eastern regions while also pounding Kyiv and other cities, leaving thousands in the dark and without power as winter begins to bite.

Early on December 4, Russian air strikes hits the southern port city of Odesa and the frontline city of Kherson, knocking out utilities for the tens of thousands, officials said.

"This entirely civilian facility, which provided heat to the city's residents, has suffered serious damage: the station's premises and equipment have been damaged," Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Telegram.

Copyright (c)2025 RFE/RL, Inc. Used with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 

[VS]

Suggested Reading: