London talks aimed at securing a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia have been downgraded and will no longer include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
The meeting on Wednesday will instead take place among senior officials from the UK, France, Germany, Ukraine, and the US, while UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy will host a bilateral meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart.
Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Gen Keith Kellogg, is attending the talks instead of Rubio and Witkoff.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out recognising occupied Crimea as Russian territory, after reports suggested this could be discussed at the talks.
This comes amid growing speculation that Russia might be willing to halt its invasion along current front lines in return for significant concessions.
The pace of diplomatic efforts to end the war is quickening but there is little clarity about where they are heading or whether they will succeed.
On Tuesday evening, Rubio spoke to Lammy about what he hoped would be “substantive and good technical meetings”.
Lammy himself called the conversation “productive”, taking place ahead of a “critical moment for Ukraine, Britain and Euro-Atlantic Security” as “talks continue at pace”.
The US secretary of state said he would reschedule his trip to the UK in the coming months, posting on X: “I look forward to following up after the ongoing discussions.”
On Wednesday morning, the UK Foreign Office confirmed talks between foreign ministers had been postponed.
The White House said Witkoff would travel to Moscow this week for his fourth meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
All this comes amid a report in the Financial Times that Russia might be ready to halt its invasion along current front lines and give up some territorial ambitions in return for US recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
Zelensky said no such proposals had been shared with him and he rejected recognising Crimea as Russian territory.
