Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and top diplomat Marco Rubio have met with their European and Ukrainian counterparts in Paris to discuss efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

The talks, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, formed the highest level of transatlantic engagement about the war since February.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged those at the meeting to put “pressure” on Russia to agree to a ceasefire, as “Russia uses every day and every night to kill”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the talks, claiming European leaders were focused on “continuing the war”.

The day of talks began with a lunchtime meeting at Elysée Palace between Macron, Witkoff and US Secretary of State Rubio.

The US delegation then met Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, as well as the national security advisors for Germany and the UK, the French presidency said.

Separate meetings between the respective nations’ foreign ministers and defence ministers also took place.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said they had “discussed the paths to a fair and lasting peace, including full ceasefire, multinational contingent, and security guarantees for Ukraine”.

Ahead of the talks, European diplomats had said they would urge the US to pressure Russia to agree to an unconditional ceasefire.

“We want the US to use a bit more stick,” one official said.

The US State Department had said the focus would be on how to end the fighting in Ukraine, and that Witkoff would report on his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that took place last week.

Macron’s office had said the purpose of the talks was to “review progress on peace negotiations aimed at ending the Russian aggression in Ukraine”.

Officials renewed their push for a ceasefire days after a Russian missile attack killed at least 35 people and injured 117 in the Ukrainian city of Sumy.

A week prior, another Russian strike on a residential area in Kryvyi Rih killed at least 18 people.

Overnight on Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities said a Russian drone attack on the city of Dnipro killed three people, including a young girl.

Following the meeting last week between Witkoff and Putin in St Petersburg, the US envoy said the Russian president was open to “permanent peace”.

The statement comes after Moscow rejected a proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire that had been agreed by the US and Ukraine last month.

In May 2023, prior to returning to the White House, Trump said he would be able to settle the war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours”.

His administration has taken action to drastically improve relations with Moscow, while seeking to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

On Thursday, Russia’s top economic negotiator claimed that some countries were trying to “derail” Moscow’s talks with Washington.

“There are a lot of people, structures, countries trying to disrupt our dialogue with the United States,” Kirill Dmitriev said.

Zelensky had previously warned Ukraine would not accept a peace deal if his country was not involved in negotiations for any such agreement.

Tensions between Trump and Zelensky have been high since a heated confrontation at the White House in February, where the US leader chided Ukraine’s president for not starting peace talks with Russia earlier.

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