US talks with Russia and Ukraine are progressing, but the Kremlin rejects a three-way meeting.

BarcelonaDonald Trump's envoys tasked with brokering a peace agreement in Ukraine had a busy weekend. Delegations from both Russia and Ukraine traveled to Miami for separate talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the US president's son-in-law. While details of the meetings were scarce, the message conveyed was that negotiations are progressing. "Quite rapidly," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has expressed openness to trilateral talks with Washington and Moscow. However, the Kremlin is currently rejecting this, asserting that no serious discussions have taken place.

The Ukrainian delegation—led by National Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov and Chief of Staff Andriy Gnatov—held separate meetings with US and European diplomats. Witkoff stated Sunday night that the Florida talks had been "productive and constructive." "Special attention has been paid to the discussion on the timelines and sequence of the next steps," he wrote on social media. He added: "Ukraine remains fully committed to achieving a just and sustainable peace. Our shared priority is to stop the killing, ensure security, and create the conditions for Ukraine's long-term recovery, stability, and prosperity."

According to Witkoff, issues such as "the further development of a 20-point plan" were addressed.the initial proposal drawn up by Washington in negotiations with Moscow—, the alignment of positions on a framework of US security guarantees for Ukraine and the development of an economic plan. Zelensky said a few days ago that he would be willing to forgo NATO membership, but that Ukraine needs assurances that it will be protected from future invasions with mechanisms similar to those in Article 5 of the Atlantic Alliance.

Meanwhile, Washington representatives also held talks with the Kremlin's envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, who said on Saturday that the talks were progressing "constructively." Dmitriev is scheduled to brief Vladimir Putin on Monday, but the Russian government has not yet provided details. Witkoff used the same wording to describe the meetings with the Russian delegation: "Over the past two days in Florida, Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev held productive and constructive meetings with the US delegation to advance President Trump's peace plan for Ukraine." And he assured that Russia maintains its "full commitment" to achieving peace in Ukraine.

From Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed his openness to speaking directly with Putin, after reports emerged that the Russian president would be willing to do so if both sides have the political will. "As soon as the prospect of a ceasefire and peace negotiations becomes clearer, it will again be useful to talk with Putin. It is welcome that the Kremlin has publicly accepted this approach," Macron's office said in a statement.

Russian attacks and advances continue

With the diplomatic machinery in motion, Russia is not abandoning its territorial objectives, and the army continues its advance on the ground, while maintaining its campaign of terror with continuous airstrikes on cities far from the front lines. Zelenskyy reported this Sunday that during the past week, Russia attacked Ukraine with some 1,300 drones, nearly 1,200 guided bombs, and nine missiles. The south of the country, especially the Odessa region, has been particularly hard hit in recent days. On Friday, Russia attacked the port of Odessa, killing eight people and wounding 27. The following day, it bombed the port of Pivdenne, in the same region, and two days earlier, it had attacked the town of Maiaki, targeting the only bridge still passable in the Odessa region between Moldova and Romania. Meanwhile, Ukraine has intensified its attacks in recent days against Russian military targets and hydrocarbon extraction platforms. On Thursday, Ukrainian authorities reported that they had successfully struck a Lukoil oil and gas platform in the Caspian Sea and a military vessel patrolling the area. On Monday, authorities in Russia's Krasnodar region reported that a Ukrainian drone attack had set fire to one of the crude oil pumping terminals in the Black Sea town of Volna. Regarding the battlefield, Russian advances have been reported in the Sumi region of northeastern Ukraine in recent hours. The Ukrainian armed forces confirmed on Sunday that Russian troops had crossed the border near Grabovske, claiming that after taking control of the town, they had forced the evacuation of approximately 50 civilians into Russia. Ukrainian Joint Forces spokesman Viktor Tregubov said that "it doesn't appear to be an attempt to gain any kind of local advantage," nor that Moscow is "trying to organize a large operation there," but rather that "it seems more like a provocation." "It's not about strategic targets, but the selective abduction of people for some kind of attack, possibly political or informational," he asserted. Some reports claim that Russian soldiers have also entered a nearby town, Ryasne, but Kyiv denies this.