Ukraine starts new round of talks with US, Kyiv negotiator says

KYIV, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Ukrainian negotiators held ⁠a new round ⁠of talks ‍on a settlement to the war with Russia with U.S. and European teams on Friday and agreed to pursue their joint efforts, top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov said.

"We agreed ‍with our American partners on further steps and on continuing our joint work in ​the near future," Umerov wrote on Telegram of the discussions in the United States.

He said he had informed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ​of the outcome of the talks.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is pushing to bring an end to nearly four years of the war.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, held talks in Berlin with Ukrainian ​and European officials earlier this week.

Earlier, Umerov wrote on Telegram that Ukraine's aim was to secure long-term security.

"We are constructively minded. We have already held preliminary consultations with our European colleagues and are ​preparing for further discussions with the American side," Umerov said. "... Ukraine’s security must be guaranteed reliably and in the long term."

Zelenskiy said that ‌Ukraine and the United States had agreed on several documents, including a 20-point peace framework, security guarantees and a reconstruction plan for Ukraine. But he said that ​no aligned final proposals had been agreed, adding that ⁠the territorial issues remained unresolved.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered no compromise on Friday on his terms for ending the war in Ukraine, saying the onus was on ‌Ukraine and Europe to make the next move.

Witkoff and Kushner also plan to meet a Russian delegation in Miami this weekend, a White House official said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that he might join a portion ‌of talks on Ukraine on Saturday, as he said that progress has been made in discussions to end the war ‌but there is still a way to go.

"In the end, it's up to them to make a deal. We can't force Ukraine to make a deal. We can't force Russia to make a deal. They have to want to ‍make a deal," Rubio said.

"The role we're trying to play is a role of figuring out whether there's any overlap here that they can agree to, ⁠and that's what we've invested a lot of time and energy and continue to do so. That may not be possible. I hope it is. I hope it can get done this month before the end of the year."

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Olena Harmash; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Editing by Diane, Ron Popeski and Alistair Bell)

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