The head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Paris from April 16 to 18 to “hold conversations with their European counterparts” about Ukraine, as reported by the US State Department.
The statement says that the objective is “to advance in the objective of President Trump to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and stop blood spill.” “During your stay in Paris, you will also discuss ways to promote shared interests in the region,” he adds.
The visit had been advanced by Politicothat, citing familiar sources with the preparations, states that Witkoff is expected to meet directly with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, while Rubio will hold talks separately with his French counterpart. After the meetings, Rubio plans to leave for Africa.
The visit occurs after Witkoff – a real estate promoter that has become a key piece of Trump diplomacy for Ukraine – met last Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.
Witkoff subsequently described the conversation, which was the third face to face with the Kremlin chief, as “very interesting” and said that both parties explored a possible agreement focused on the status of the “called five territories.” Although he did not appoint them, he seemed to refer to Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and the provinces of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporiyia and Jersón, partially occupied by the troops of Moscow. kyiv insists that he will never recognize the occupied territories as part of Russia, something that has described as a red line. Trump’s envoy said that he not only talked to put this, but there was “much more: there are security protocols, there are no NATO, article 5 of NATO [la cláusula de defensa común]that is, there are many related details. ”
Trump, who came to power with the promise to put an end to the conflict, has starred in an approach to Russia while pouring strong criticisms of Ukraine, although in recent weeks he has also expressed frustration with Kremlin.
Moscow, who maintains his maximalist demands, has so far refused to accept a high temporary fire proposed by the US and carried out a missile attack that left more than thirty -dead civilians in the Ukrainian region of Sumi on Sunday. This Wednesday, an exterior spokesman for Ukraine has accused Russia of violating the high firefire that covered energy infrastructure more than 30 times since it was agreed in March, according to the country’s press.
Last week, the axios revealed, citing a familiar source, which Trump could impose additional sanctions on Russia if a truce is not reached before the end of the month. A few days before, Rubio said that Russia was finishing the time to convince the Trump administration that she is serious and slipped that Washington was finishing patience. “We will know very soon, in a matter of weeks, not months, if Russia is serious about peace or not. I hope it is,” said the Secretary of State at the NATO Summit in Brussels.
As Ha revealed he Wall Street JournalL, several high Trump advisors are advising him more skeptical about Moscow’s desire to achieve peace, a group that, according to medium sources, includes Marco Rubio and the envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg. According to the same medium, they have recommended more caution when dealing with Putin and a tougher line against Moscow’s demands of territorial concessions by kyiv. However, according to the newspaper, Trump is still on the side of Witkoff, who believes the president wants peace.
Witkoff lifted ampoules, when an interview broadcast on Friday with the ultraconservator Tucker Carlson, former Fox News star presenter, said among other things that the Ukrainians who live in the occupied territories want to “be under Russian domain” because they have demonstrated it in “referendums” – which were widely rejected by the international community – words that he tried to clarify later.
In a recent interview with CBS News, President Volodimir Zelenski regretted that the “Russian narratives” are “prevailing” in Washington. “How is it possible to witness our losses and our suffering, understand what the Russians are doing, and continue to believe that they are not the aggressors, who did not start this war?” He said.
Ukraine speaks of progress in the Mineral Agreement
Meanwhile, Ukraine has reported progress in negotiations with the US about the so -called Mineral Agreement. The negotiating teams of both countries have agreed to capture in the preliminary memorandum that they plan to sign the points agreed by both parties in the negotiations on the pact, with which Washington wants to recover the money spent on supporting kyiv during the war.
“Our technical teams have worked together exhaustively in the agreement, and there are substantial progress. Our legal team has harmonized several elements in the draft agreement,” said the head of Economics of Ukraine, Yulia Sviridenko, in her X. “We are preparing the full formalization of the agreement of the agreement,” he explained.
According to Sviridenko, who said that the final pact must be ratified by the Ukrainian Parliament and said that he expects a positive agreement that guarantees investments in Ukraine and also offers economic benefits to the US, the negotiators of both parties continue to work on the “specific points” on which there is still no consensus.
In a recent interview, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said that the Ukrainians had submitted a counterpropued to the last document proposed by Washington and that the agreement could be signed this week.
The Preliminary Framework Agreement that both parties should have signed in the failed visit of Zelenski to the White House on February 28 provided for the creation of a Joint Investment Fund dominated by the US in which 50% of the benefits generated by the future exploitation of Ukrainian natural resources would be deposited. The fund would offer economic opportunities to US companies and ensure US investments in Ukraine.
Although the Framework Agreement was never signed, Washington presented kyiv at the end of March a new document with more details that intended to force Ukraine to recognize as debt the amount of military aid received as the US donation. Zelenski made clear in public that he would not accept this condition or any point of the document incompatible with EU legislation, in which Ukraine aspires to be integrated as soon as possible.
According to American media, the US has accepted in the negotiations of recent days to eliminate some of the most unfavorable conditions to Ukraine he had presented in his latest proposal.
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