Officials from Ukraine, the United States and Europe said a meeting in London was "substantive" despite the last-minute postponement of a broader set of talks with foreign ministers.
The April 23 talks, which were aimed at trying to resolve Russia's 38-month war on Ukraine, were already facing serious headwinds after top diplomats, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, pulled out, effectively downgrading the meeting and casting a major pall over ongoing peace efforts.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy also opted to skip the meetings, leaving a Ukrainian delegation that included Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's top aide, to meet with lower-level officials and US Ukraine envoy Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg.
In the end, the talks involved "substantive technical meetings with European, U.S. and Ukrainian officials on how to stop the fighting" triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022," a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters.
"We remain absolutely committed to securing a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and these talks today are an important part of that," the spokesperson said.
The scrapping of a meeting between the top diplomats of Ukraine, the United States, Germany, France, and Britain, highlighted the divide between the countries in finding a path to peace talks.
It also came after US President Donald Trump complained of a lack of progress in the negotiations, prompting him to threaten to make a deal soon or Washington will walk away from the table.
"I think we read it all the same way," one European diplomat, who asked not to be named, told RFE/RL. "It's the US one step further toward checking out."
"I see it as additional pressure on the Ukrainians: take it or leave it," another European diplomat told RFE/RL. '"We don't have time for you, we have other things to do."
Last week, Rubio and other Ukrainian and European officials met in Paris for talks that yielded what many saw was minor progress toward a resolution of the war.
But Rubio later signaled US impatience with the status of the talks, and he suggested the United States might pull out entirely from all involvement in the negotiations.
Trump again warned Ukraine that it needs to make a deal to end the fighting while sharply criticizing Zelenskyy for saying Kyiv sees any recognition of Crimea as part of Russia -- reportedly a condition the United States has put on the table in the talks -- is a red line for Ukraine.
"It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War," Trump said in a social media postwhere he denied anyone is asking Ukraine recognize Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, as Russian territory.
"He has nothing to boast about! The situation for Ukraine is dire — He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country," Trump added.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the day during a trip to India, US Vice President JD Vance said Washington had issued a “very explicit proposal” to Russia and Ukraine, though he gave no details.
“It’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process," Vance said.
“The current lines, somewhere close to them is where you’re ultimately, I think, going to draw the new lines in the conflict,” he said.
SEE ALSO: Trump Talk Of Imminent Deal Sharpens Focus On Ukraine DiplomacyOver the weekend, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and CNN reported that US negotiators had presented Ukraine with a list of possible concessions. Included among them was potential US recognition of Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, and a definitive rejection of Ukraine's aspiration to join NATO.
The Kremlin on April 23 refused to comment on rumored proposals and said the downgrading of the London talks showed that the countries involved still needed to narrow their differences as there were "a lot of nuances" that still need resolving.
Britain's Defense Secretary John Healytold lawmakers on April 22 there was no evidence that Russia had let up its attacks on Ukraine, chiding Putin as someone who says he wants peace but "has rejected a full cease-fire...and continues to play for time in the negotiations."
Healy and Lammy held talks with the Ukrainian delegation during the day on April 23, with Kellogg also in attendance.
He called the talks "substantial," while Lammy wrote in a social media post that "we are working at pace with US, Ukraine, and European allies to end the war and secure a just and lasting peace."