Putin meets Trump envoys for 5 hours, no Ukraine war breakthrough

A marathon five-hour meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner failed to yield any major breakthroughs in efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Moscow Tuesday for talks with the Kremlin leader following a Sunday meeting with key members of the Ukrainian delegation on a revised peace plan.

Putin’s foreign-policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who also attended the Witkoff-Kushner meeting alongside Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told reporters after that the conversations were “extremely useful, constructive and substantive,” according to a readout released by the Kremlin.

“We specifically discussed territorial issues, without which the crisis cannot be settled, as we see it. Of course, we also talked about the broad prospects for future economic interaction between our countries,” said Ushakov.

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He added that the Russian side received four documents from Witkoff and Kushner during the meeting, including one that consisted of 27 points, but declined to go into detail of what they contained.

The original leaked 28-point plan was criticized by European leaders as too favorable to Moscow and later whittled down.

The issue of territory was a key part of the discussion, according to Ushakov, who said no compromise had yet been found.

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“However, some of the American proposals appear more or less acceptable. They do, nevertheless, require further discussion. Certain wording we have been offered is not suitable for us. In other words, the work will continue,” said the senior Russian diplomat.

A key sticking point in negotiations has been territorial demands from Russia, who wants Ukraine to relinquish the entire Donbas, including parts its military does not currently control. 

The Institute for the Study of War, a nonpartisan public policy research organization that tracks the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war, said Russian forces have advanced in Sumy Oblast and near Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk and Huliaipole.

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Ukraine’s Joint Forces Task Force reported on Telegram that its forces still control most of the city of Kupiansk, though Russian forces maintain isolated groups in the northern parts.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, was preparing for a meeting in Brussels with national security advisors to European leaders to brief their colleagues on the Witkoff-Kushner meeting with Putin.

“After Brussels, Rustem Umerov and Andrii Hnatov will begin preparations for a meeting with envoys of President Trump in the United States,” said Zelenskyy. “As always, Ukraine will work constructively in pursuit of a real peace. I expect a new report following the results of today’s meetings in Europe.”