Kremlin says talks between Ukraine and US envoys were beneficial

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a “very fruitful” meeting for more than three hours on Saturday with two U.S. envoys seeking a deal to end the war in Ukraine, but showed no signs of a breakthrough, according to an aide to the Russian president.

Aide Yuri Ushakov said Americans Steve Witkov and Jared Kushner had “outlined a number of ideas about possible paths towards reconciliation.” Ushakov did not say what these ideas were.

He said Putin told both men that Russia was making “real progress” on the battlefield and was confident of achieving its goals, stressing the need to address “all the root causes of the conflict.”

These are statements that the Russian government has repeatedly issued since President Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Russia’s smaller neighbor in February 2022. Both countries have stepped up long-range airstrikes in recent weeks, but the front lines have remained largely stationary.

A White House official told Reuters the talks were “substantive” and that next steps would be announced in the coming weeks.

Witkoff and Kushner, who were in Moscow for the first time since January on behalf of President Donald Trump, had no comment. The two leaders left Moscow immediately after the meeting and are scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kiev on Sunday.

“The meeting went beyond a simple exchange of views on resolving the Ukraine crisis. Economic issues and potential large-scale and mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in some detail,” Ushakov said. “Overall, the negotiations were timely and extremely beneficial to both sides.”

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy, wrote in a post on X that the meeting was an “important peace negotiation visit.” Both he and Ushakov were present at the meeting.

The Russian president praised Trump’s efforts to end the war.

In a televised speech at the beginning of the meeting, President Putin said, “Even though we understand that we are in a difficult situation, we will not stop our efforts to support the realization of reconciliation and contribute to the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”

President Trump suggested Friday that the U.S. has a new proposal aimed at ending the war, but gave no details.

President Putin has promised to ensure the safety of U.S. negotiators. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Putin had ordered Russian troops not to attack Kiev for three days because of the visit.

For the past 10 days, Russia has been attacking the Ukrainian capital day and night with missiles and drones, including Friday’s attack on the headquarters of the SBU Security Service.

Throughout the summer, Ukraine damaged Russian refineries, oil terminals, and warehouses of online retailer Wildberry in an effort to raise money to continue the war to Moscow. President Zelensky said Kiev was prepared to refrain from attacking Moscow until Monday.

Differences between Russia and Ukraine remain wide over how to end the war, Europe’s deadliest since World War II.

Officials close to the Kremlin said before reports of the trip by Trump’s envoy emerged that Putin still intended to seize more territory.

“There is no possibility of reaching an agreement on the front until President Putin has secured the remaining areas of the Donetsk region,” the official told Reuters, adding that based on reports from his commanders, the president was confident that an agreement would be reached by the end of the year.

Western military analysts see such a possibility as remote, given Moscow’s slow progress. Ukraine refuses to hand over the land it has successfully defended at great expense, and refuses to offer any conditions tantamount to surrender.

The Kremlin said on Friday that Putin’s position in a speech two years ago that Ukraine should cede all territory in four Russian-claimed regions and abandon its plans to join NATO remains “unwavering.”