Global & US Headlines
Trump Envoys Shuttle Between Moscow and Miami to Draft Ukraine Peace Framework
Between 2-5 Dec 2025, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held a five-hour closed-door session with Vladimir Putin in Moscow and immediately flew to Florida to brief and negotiate with Kyiv’s Rustem Umerov, opening the first U.S.-brokered round aimed at a cease-fire and long-term security deal for Ukraine.
Focusing Facts
- Putin met Witkoff and Kushner for five hours inside the Kremlin on 2 Dec 2025 to review a revised 28-point U.S. peace draft.
- On 4 Dec 2025, Witkoff and Kushner began follow-up talks with Ukrainian negotiators in Miami— the sixth U.S.–Ukraine session in two weeks.
- Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov stated on 3 Dec that Ukraine’s NATO bid was a “key question” and that, for now, only Washington is negotiating directly with Moscow on the war.
Context
Major-power horse-trading over a smaller state echoes the 1945 Yalta bargains and the 1995 Dayton shuttle, where military facts on the ground shaped the map more than legal ideals. Russia’s claimed captures of Pokrovsk and Vovchansk—disputed but trumpeted—mirror North Korea’s late-war pushes that stiffened armistice lines in 1953, signaling how battlefield momentum still calibrates diplomacy. The exclusion of EU actors reprises Cold-War patterns: continental security discussed above Europeans’ heads, hinting at a long swing back to bilateral great-power deals after three decades of rules-based multilateralism. Whether this round matters a century from now hinges on two tests: if Washington trades NATO’s “open door” for a frozen border, it would mark the first formal rollback of alliance enlargement since 1949; if talks collapse, it will be another missed Dayton, adding to the archive of aborted cease-fires that ultimately prolonged conflicts like Afghanistan (1989-2021). Either outcome will shape the next generation’s view of how territorial conquest and alliance politics are rewarded—or punished—by diplomacy.
Perspectives
Russian state-owned media
e.g., TASS — Portrays the Miami–Moscow talks as constructive proof that Washington is now willing to factor in Russia’s demands and that recent Russian battlefield gains strengthen Moscow’s hand. Frames events to highlight Kremlin leverage and inevitability of Western concessions, minimizing Ukrainian agency and legitimizing Russia’s territorial claims.
Ukrainian national media
e.g., Українська правда — Stresses that despite continued dialogue, there has been “not too much progress” and Kyiv is waiting to hear exactly what was promised in Moscow before judging any plan. Emphasises uncertainty and slow movement to keep international pressure on both Washington and Moscow while guarding against proposals that might sacrifice Ukraine’s sovereignty.
U.S. and other international mainstream outlets
e.g., Associated Press via AOL, ABC News — Report incremental progress toward a security framework for post-war Ukraine but caution that a real deal still depends on Russia proving it wants long-term peace. Centers U.S. mediation and presents a balanced tone that can gloss over European worries and on-the-ground violence, implicitly portraying American diplomacy as indispensable.