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US NATO envoy believes ball is in Russia's court in Ukrainian settlement

According to Matthew Whitaker, Washington is trying to find out the maximum that Russia is willing to do to end the conflict

NEW YORK, December 24. /TASS/. US Permanent Representative to NATO Matthew Whitaker believes that the ball is now in Russia's court in the process of the Ukrainian conflict resolution.

"The ball is currently in the court of the Russians," he said on Fox News.

"I think we have a pretty good sense right now of what Ukraine wants to do. I think we are trying to find out, you know, the maximum that Russia is willing to do," Whitaker added.

US representatives held separate consultations with the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Florida over the past weekend. After the meetings, US Vice President JD Vance said, "The breakthrough that I do feel that we’ve made is that all of the issues are actually out in the open." In turn, US special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff described his discussions with the Russian delegation led by special presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev as "productive and constructive." Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Dmitriev would brief President Vladimir Putin on his talks in Miami as soon as he returns to Moscow.

The Ukrainian side was represented in Florida by Ukrainian Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov and Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Andrey Gnatov.

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Ukraine crisis United States

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