New peace talks on Ukraine USA mediates between Kiev and Moscow - with obstacles

Representatives of the USA, Russia and European states are meeting in Miami to negotiate a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine. While progress has been made on security guarantees, the territorial issue remains highly controversial.

Keystone-SDA

20.12.2025, 12:23

SDA

Negotiations on a peaceful solution in Ukraine after almost four years of Russian aggression are entering the next round. Following talks between leading European states, the USA and Ukraine in Berlin last Sunday and Monday, the American negotiators now want to feed back the results to Russian representatives in Miami in the US state of Florida.

A high-ranking US official announced days ago that they would meet in working groups. Military representatives are also expected to be involved. The USA sees itself as a mediator in the conflict.

Ukrainian and European government representatives are also expected in Florida, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's foreign policy advisor Günter Sautter. He set off on Friday to hold "informal talks with the US government", as the German Press Agency learned from government circles.

According to media reports, a meeting is planned with US President Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Steve Witkoff, which will also be attended by representatives from the UK and France. Talks between the German and Russian sides are not planned.

According to reports, the Russian delegation will be led by President Vladimir Putin's advisor Kirill Dmitriev. He is to speak with Witkoff about the results of the two-day talks in Berlin.

Russian and Ukrainian attacks

In the meantime, the Ukrainian and Russian military launched new attacks against each other. In the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, at least eight people died in a Russian missile attack last night and a further 32 people were injured. The Russian military leadership reported attacks against a Ukrainian defense industry plant as well as attacks against Ukrainian army vehicle convoys. The Ukrainian side did not comment on these claims and there was no independent confirmation.

For its part, Ukraine claimed to have attacked a Russian warship and oil platform in the Caspian Sea with combat drones. In a drone attack against the Russian military airport Belbek on the occupied Crimean peninsula, two Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets and the control tower were destroyed, according to the SBU intelligence service. There was no information from the Russian side and no independent verification was possible.

There is movement on the security guarantees

There are two key issues at stake in the negotiations: Security guarantees and territorial issues. According to all sides, progress has been made on the planned guarantees in the event of a ceasefire. "What the USA has put on the table here in Berlin in terms of legal and material guarantees is truly remarkable," said Chancellor Merz, for example. According to him, this primarily refers to the USA's willingness to give Ukraine guarantees close to Article 5 of the NATO treaty. According to this article, an attack on one state is treated as an attack on all states.

The Europeans offered to set up a "multinational force" with the support of the USA to ensure security on land, at sea and on the ground in Ukraine. For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seems to have come to terms with the fact that his country's accession to NATO is currently unrealistic.

There is no movement on the territorial issue

The most difficult question until the very end is likely to remain the territorial issue. One of Russia's core demands for a ceasefire is that Ukraine should also give up those towns in the eastern Donetsk region that are strategically important for the country's defense and which Russia has not yet been able to conquer. Zelenskyi rejects such gifts to the "aggressor state" and refers to the country's constitution, which generally does not permit the cession of territory.

However, Merz said that Zelenskyi was prepared to recognize the area beyond the existing front line in Ukraine as "Russian-occupied territory". He also spoke of a "demilitarized zone" between the two warring parties, i.e. a kind of buffer zone.

How Russia has reacted so far

Officially, Russia has not reacted to the proposals circulating in the media. Moscow is waiting to be informed by Washington and will not engage in megaphone diplomacy in advance, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

However, the general displeasure about support for Ukraine, particularly from the EU, cannot be ignored in the Russian comments. Following the renegotiations in Berlin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the Europeans of playing a destructive role in the peace talks. At a meeting with high-ranking military officials, Kremlin boss Putin even scolded the "European piglets". At the same event, he threatened to recapture Russia's "historic territories" militarily if Ukraine did not give in in the territorial dispute.

Putin repeats old demands and boasts of frontline successes

Putin also showed toughness at his big annual press conference on Friday. Russia is ready for peace - on his terms, he announced and boasted of further military successes in the nationally televised event. Moscow's long-standing demands include Ukraine renouncing its NATO membership and ceding further territories to Russia.

The phrase repeatedly used in Moscow that "the causes of the conflict in Kiev" must be eliminated also conceals the claim to be able to help shape the political landscape in the neighboring country. Putin also made this clear at the annual press conference when he called for the inclusion of Ukrainians who had fled to Russia - allegedly five to even ten million people - in a possible presidential election in the neighboring country. His election director Ella Pamfilova then offered to organize and count the vote in Russia - a condition that was unacceptable to Kiev from the outset.