Updated: November 30, 2025 — 9:10 PM EST (CBS/AP)
U.S. and Ukrainian officials spent about four hours in talks Sunday aimed at advancing a negotiated end to the war with Russia. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Hallandale Beach meeting “productive and useful,” but said additional negotiations will continue this week in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rubio stressed that the effort is not only to stop the fighting but to secure Ukraine’s long-term safety and economic recovery so it will not face future invasions. He said the session moved the process forward but that “there’s more work to be done.”
The U.S. delegation included special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Witkoff is scheduled to travel to Moscow on Monday, a U.S. official confirmed. A photograph from the session showed Witkoff, Rubio and Kushner meeting with Ukrainian delegates on Nov. 30 in Hallandale Beach, Fla. (Terry Renna/AP).
Diplomats have been reworking a draft framework that Washington and Moscow had previously circulated; critics have argued earlier versions leaned toward Russian demands. Rubio said reassuring Kyiv and addressing its security concerns were central to the talks.
Ukraine’s secretary of national security, Rustem Umerov, thanked the American negotiators and described the meeting as supportive and successful, but offered few specifics. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X that the Ukrainian delegation would quickly and substantively work out steps needed to end the war. In his nightly address, Zelenskyy said the U.S. approach appeared constructive and that concrete next steps could be developed in the coming days.
The discussions take place while Ukraine continues to push back Russian forces on the battlefield and confronts a domestic corruption scandal. Andriy Yermak, who had been Ukraine’s lead negotiator and the president’s chief of staff, announced his resignation after anti-corruption investigators searched his home amid allegations that roughly $100 million was embezzled from the energy sector through contractor kickbacks. Rubio had met with Yermak in Geneva last week; both sides described those talks as positive for revising the peace plan.
Other Ukrainian attendees on Sunday included Andrii Hnatov, head of Ukraine’s armed forces, and presidential adviser Oleksandr Bevz.
Key elements reported in earlier versions of the U.S.-Russia draft included limits on the size of Ukraine’s military, a ban on NATO membership and a requirement to hold elections within 100 days. Negotiators say the framework has been altered, but they have not released full details. Early drafts reportedly envisaged Ukraine ceding control of the Donbas region, a point Kyiv has strongly resisted.
Former President Donald Trump described the document as a “concept” that could be fine-tuned and said he would send Witkoff and possibly Kushner to meet with Putin in Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would meet Witkoff before leaving for India on Thursday.
Both Witkoff and Kushner are businessmen with real estate backgrounds who favor dealmaking approaches; they were also involved in a 20-point proposal that helped produce a cease-fire in Gaza.
Negotiators from all sides signaled progress but emphasized that several major issues remain unresolved as the talks move to Moscow this week.