Trump envoys to meet Ukrainian team in Miami for renewed peace talks

US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due to meet Ukrainian negotiators in Miami on Friday, October 9, to discuss new proposals for ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. European officials have been invited to join the talks. The meeting offers a new attempt to advance negotiations, but the proposals have not been published and no agreement has been announced.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Thursday that his negotiating team would meet Kushner and Witkoff in the United States. He said the meeting was expected to last two days and that Ukraine was counting on a European team joining its delegation. That expectation does not establish which European officials will attend.

Who is expected at the Miami talks

Zelensky named his chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, and Ukrainian officials Rustem Umerov, Sergiy Kyslytsya and David Arakhamia as participants. His account establishes Ukraine’s intended delegation, while the reported invitations leave the final composition of the wider meeting open.

Reuters reported that representatives of the White House National Security Council and US Treasury Department would take part. A US source told the news agency that American negotiators had also invited national security advisers from Britain, France and Germany, along with officials from NATO and the European Union. The source described an expanded discussion; the invitation itself does not confirm that every invited government or organisation will be represented.

What the US envoys plan to discuss

US officials cited by AFP said the agenda was expected to cover security guarantees for Ukraine, a postwar prosperity plan and other aspects of the conflict. Reuters reported the same planned subjects. They are topics for discussion, not settled commitments. There is no disclosed agreement on what guarantees would entail or how any postwar plan would work.

One US source told AFP that Washington was trying to bring the sides toward a unified proposal. That describes an objective for the talks, rather than a proposal already accepted by the parties. It also leaves open whether the Miami discussions will produce terms for any subsequent meeting with Russia.

Why the October meeting matters

The announcement comes after earlier US efforts to restart negotiations failed to produce tangible progress, according to AFP’s account. Zelensky said last week that Washington wanted another round of talks involving Ukraine and Russia by the end of October. The Kremlin had said the previous month that three-way talks could take place in October. Neither statement establishes that such a meeting has been agreed or scheduled.

Reuters reported that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the conflict on Thursday as being at a dangerous stalemate. The characterization underscores the difficulty facing the negotiators: Friday’s meeting is a discussion of possible approaches, with no published terms against which to judge the prospects of an eventual settlement.

The timing also matters to those facing another winter of war. A US source quoted by AFP said European officials had expressed concern about energy costs and warned that it would be a difficult winter if the war continued. The source’s assessment does not establish that the planned talks will change conditions on the ground.

The immediate questions are who among the invited European and alliance officials actually attends, what the American proposals contain, and whether the Ukrainian delegation agrees to pursue any of them. The planned October 9–10 discussions have yet to take place, so their outcome and any next round of negotiations remain unknown.