Updated on: November 30, 2025 / 9:10 PM EST / CBS/AP
U.S. and Ukrainian officials held roughly four hours of talks Sunday aimed at finding an endgame to the war between Russia and Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the session — which included special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Ukrainian delegates — as “productive and useful,” but said talks will continue this week in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“We don’t just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever. So never again will they face another invasion. And equally importantly, we want them to enter an age of true prosperity,” Rubio said. “It’s about also the terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity. … I think we build on that today, but there’s more work to be done.”
Witkoff is set to travel to Moscow on Monday, a U.S. official confirmed. The negotiations come as Ukraine continues to push back against Russian forces that invaded in 2022 while also confronting a domestic corruption scandal.
Photo: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Jared Kushner attend a meeting with Ukrainian officials Nov. 30, 2025, in Hallandale Beach, Fla. (Terry Renna / AP)
Diplomats have focused on revisions to a proposed plan developed between Washington and Moscow that critics say is weighted toward Russian demands. Rubio emphasized reassuring Ukraine during the meeting.
Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s secretary of national security, thanked American negotiators but gave few details. “We discussed all the important matters that are important for Ukraine, for Ukrainian people and us, was super supportive. We were already had a successful meeting in Geneva, and today we continue this success,” Umerov said, calling the meeting “productive and successful.”
Until recently, Ukraine’s lead negotiator had been Andriy Yermak, the powerful chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy announced Yermak’s resignation after anti-corruption investigators searched his home amid a scandal over about $100 million allegedly embezzled from the energy sector through contractor kickbacks, creating domestic pressure on the government.
Rubio met with Yermak in Geneva a week earlier, with both sides calling those talks positive for revising the peace plan. Other Ukrainian delegation members in Sunday’s meeting included Andrii Hnatov, head of Ukraine’s armed forces, and presidential adviser Oleksandr Bevz.
The plan — described by former President Trump as a “concept” or “map” to be “fine-tuned” — had proposed limits on the size of Ukraine’s military, barred NATO membership and required elections within 100 days. Negotiators say the framework has changed, but details of revisions remain unclear. Early versions reportedly envisioned Ukraine ceding the entire Donbas region to Russia, a major sticking point for Kyiv.
Trump said he would send Witkoff and possibly Kushner to Moscow this week to meet with Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would meet Witkoff before Thursday, when Putin departs for India.
Both Witkoff and Kushner come from real estate backgrounds and favor dealmaking over traditional diplomacy; they were also involved in a 20-point proposal that led to a ceasefire in Gaza.
Zelenskyy wrote on X that the Ukrainian delegation would “swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war.” In his nightly address Saturday, he said the American side was “demonstrating a constructive approach” and that in the coming days it could be feasible to flesh out steps to bring the war to a dignified end.
In: Ukraine, Russia