US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet senior Ukrainian negotiator, Rustem Umerov, for talks in Miami on Thursday.

Ukrainian negotiators were set to meet with European officials in Brussels, and later US officials in Florida, days after a five-hour Kremlin meeting with a visiting White House delegation where President Vladimir Putin doubled down on his hard-line conditions to end the war on Ukraine.

Friday’s session took place at the Shell Bay Club in Florida, owned by Mr Witkoff’s property development company.

Ukrainian and US officials will hold a third straight day of talks in Miami on Saturday, with Washington saying the two sides agreed that "real progress" would depend on Russia's willingness to end the war.

The talks shifted on Sunday with a change in leadership from the Ukrainian side. A new chief negotiator, national security council secretary Rustem Umerov, led the discussions for Kyiv after the resignation on Friday of previous team leader Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, amid a corruption scandal at home.

US President Donald Trump expressed optimism after a high-level meeting between US officials and a Ukrainian delegation in Miami on Sunday, suggesting there was a “good chance” of a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.