Charles Maines

The comments came after a late-night marathon meeting between Putin and White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin failed to reach a compromise.

The Americans had sought Putin's support for a revised U.S.

peace plan for Ukraine, one that included more input from Ukraine and Europe after an earlier draft was criticized as heavily weighted in Russia's favor.

Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow.

This deal was initially tilted in Russia's favor, which got Putin's cautious endorsement.

But then came the blowback.

Ukraine, Europe, even some Republicans in Congress said this was unacceptable and they demanded changes.

And so with each revision, they pulled it further away from a deal Moscow liked.

And these scenes of Putin and his generals certainly seem an attempt to convince the U.S.

that there's just no alternative but for Ukraine to bend to core Russian demands.

Morning, Leila.

Yeah, sure.

You know, so on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who, of course, the son-in-law of the president, hosted a Ukrainian delegation for talks in Florida, which has emerged as kind of a nexus for Ukraine-related diplomacy in recent weeks.

Discussions were focused on this new U.S.

peace plan, initially criticized as heavily tilted in Russia's favor, but since amended with input from Ukraine and Europe recently.

Now, Rubio called the meeting productive, even as he made clear there was plenty more work to do.

He also had this to say.

Now, this meeting was also notable because of a shift in the makeup of the Ukrainian delegation.

That's after a corruption scandal led to the resignation of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's chief of staff, who had been the lead negotiator with the U.S.

How much that influenced the talks is tough to say.