Overview
- Roughly 40 foreign ministers gathered in Vienna, with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio absent; Moscow sent Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko and Washington was represented by State Department official Brendan Hanrahan.
- Vladimir Putin vowed that Donbass and what he called “Novorossiya” would fall to Russia and said Moscow discussed but did not accept all points of a reported 28‑point U.S. plan presented by private envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who plan to brief Ukrainians in Florida as Kyiv prepares meetings in the United States.
- A leaked transcript reported by Der Spiegel showed European leaders warning that U.S. mediation could trade Ukrainian territory without clear security guarantees, drawing derision from Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev toward German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
- Consensus rules and post‑2022 vetoes have hobbled the OSCE’s missions and budgets, yet diplomats and officials point to its field expertise and network as the likely framework to verify any ceasefire or post‑conflict arrangements.
- Tensions around the meeting were evident as Lavrov publicly attacked the OSCE’s ODIHR for alleged bias and the low‑ranking U.S. delegation head left the opening session early after speeches critical of Russia, even as the OSCE’s Support Programme Ukraine continues work on missing‑persons tracing, psychosocial aid, demining and rights documentation.