{"text":[[{"start":10.48,"text":"Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held several hours of talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday on how to end the war in Ukraine, a day after meeting Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow."}],[{"start":25.24,"text":"The pair’s first official visit to the Ukrainian capital failed to deliver a breakthrough to end the four-year-long war, however."}],[{"start":31.88,"text":"Witkoff said he felt “good” about the conversations “in Moscow and now here” in Kyiv. Kushner said the envoys had put forward “new ideas” in the discussions, without going into further detail."}],[{"start":43.72,"text":"People familiar with the talks told the FT that the Americans brought updated versions of earlier documents aimed at securing peace, which had been revised to reflect the changed circumstances since peace negotiations stalled in February at the outset of the US war with Iran."}],[{"start":58.56,"text":"The envoys brought few new ideas, the people argued, and were instead seeking to revive earlier proposals and narrow differences between Kyiv and Moscow."}],[{"start":67.24,"text":"A central issue is the remaining Ukrainian-held territory in the Donbas, which Russia has claimed as its own but has failed to capture despite years of fighting."}],[{"start":76.16,"text":"The eastern region, about 75 per cent of which is under Russian control, is a red line for Zelenskyy, who has insisted that Ukraine would never hand over that territory or any other territory that Moscow’s forces occupy."}],[{"start":88.76,"text":"The Ukrainian president conceded in a press conference following the meetings that negotiators had discussed territorial issues but he insisted the question should be discussed “at the level of leaders”."}],[{"start":98.82,"text":"“The question of Donbas isn’t just about Donbas,” he said. “It is, between us, the question of the entire war.”"}],[{"start":105.9,"text":"There was general acknowledgment in Sunday’s discussions that the war was unlikely to end before winter, the people familiar with the talks said."}],[{"start":113.24,"text":"The envoys discussed ways to help Ukraine get through what is expected to be another difficult period as Russia escalates attacks on critical infrastructure, although they told Zelenskyy and his team that they believed progress could still be made before winter sets in, the people added."}],[{"start":126.66,"text":"Following the discussions, Kushner said the US hoped to resume trilateral negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the US that stalled following the start of the Iran war."}],[{"start":136.68,"text":"Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Kyiv by train. The talks, which lasted more than four hours, were first held at the St Sophia Cathedral complex in central Kyiv before moving to Mariinsky Palace, the official presidential residence."}],[{"start":150.72,"text":"On Friday, a Russian jet-powered drone hit the headquarters of Ukraine’s security service directly across the street from the location, an unprecedented case of a daytime drone strike on a government building in Kyiv’s historic centre."}],[{"start":162.96,"text":"Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the talks in Moscow on Saturday, which lasted more than three hours, had been “timely and useful” but gave no details about the substance of the American plan that the US president had called “a proposal to end the war”."}],[{"start":178.04,"text":"Putin has repeatedly insisted that any peace agreement would need to recognise the “realities on the ground”. He has also opposed a ceasefire as a prelude to peace talks — a longstanding Ukrainian demand."}],[{"start":190.46,"text":"Before the arrival of Witkoff and Kushner in Kyiv, Ukraine’s expectations were low that the visit would mark a step towards ending the four-year-long war."}],[{"start":198.54,"text":"Oleksandr Merezhko, an MP in Zelenskyy’s party and chair of the parliament’s foreign policy committee, said the fact that the two envoys had travelled to Moscow first was a “bad sign” and a possible indication that the US would try to “impose” a “pro-Putin” plan on Ukraine."}],[{"start":214.64,"text":"For the past week, Russia has bombarded the Ukrainian capital with an unprecedented series of daytime drone attacks. The raids on Kyiv by a small number of jet-powered drones triggered scores of daytime air raid alerts that deeply disrupted the lives of its more than 3.5mn residents."}],[{"start":231.64,"text":"Five such alerts were declared on Saturday and one on Sunday."}],[{"start":235.4,"text":"Zelenskyy had earlier accused Russian forces of deliberately bombing Kyiv’s two main civilian airports on Saturday in order to prevent Witkoff and Kushner from landing there."}],[{"start":244.64,"text":"Prospects of a broader ceasefire have appeared increasingly remote as both sides have escalated their long-range strikes in recent months, targeting ships in the Black Sea as well as military and energy infrastructure."}],[{"start":263.44,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1788746535_7339.mp3"}