Ukraine and Russia have agreed to return to the negotiating process, but still have serious differences over the terms of a potential peace deal.
This was stated by US Vice President J.D. Vance, Ukrinform reports.
According to him, the main reason no agreement has been reached is the significant divergence between the two countries’ positions on the details. At the same time, Vance stressed that US President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who helped restart the negotiating process, remains optimistic and is continuing his work, as the US administration is making every effort to achieve peace.
Answering a question about Ukraine’s use of Starlink satellite communications, Vance said that SpaceX owner Elon Musk runs a private company and should not unilaterally decide its role in the war without direction from the US government. In his view, the issue primarily concerns overall US policy towards Ukraine and Russia.
Talks on Ending the War in Ukraine: What We Know
- On 20 October in Oslo, a meeting took place between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and US special representative Steve Witkoff. The participants discussed proposals for establishing peace, security guarantees for Ukraine and post-war reconstruction.
- According to Zelenskyy, Washington agrees on the need to provide Ukraine with strong security guarantees. Among the possible options under consideration is a mechanism similar to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
- On 21 October, Witkoff travelled to St Petersburg, where he met with Putin. According to the US special representative, Jared Kushner also took part in the talks. The sides discussed the foundations of a peace settlement and the possibility of continuing work towards ending the war.
- Witkoff also said that work is planned to continue in the format of trilateral talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine at a technical level.
- European governments, meanwhile, are discussing the possibility of appointing a representative to hold direct talks with the Russian president on ending the war in Ukraine. Among the most likely potential candidates are Finnish President Alexander Stubb and European Council President António Costa.