 (6).png)
10 hours ago
2
ARTICLE AD BOX
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin's Thursday talks with three US envoys will be followed up later on Friday by security talks in Abu Dhabi between Russian, US and Ukrainian officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Thursday. The talks on a US-drafted plan to end the Ukraine war lasted more than three and a half hours.
Witkoff was accompanied by US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as Washington pushes a plan to end the Ukraine war, news agency AFP reported.
Meanwhile, Putin appeared alongside his foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, and his envoy for international economic affairs, Kirill Dmitriev.
According to AFP, the Kremlin called the meeting between Putin and US envoy Witkoff 'useful in every respect.'
What happened on Thursday?
There was no immediate word on the outcome of the meeting, which ended well after midnight Moscow time. However, US and Ukrainian officials reportedly said they’ve made significant progress on a 20-point plan to end the Russian full-scale invasion that’s lasted almost four years and spiraled into Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.
Kyiv announced it had agreed on post-war security guarantees with Washington, even as both Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement.
Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country's eastern Donbas region as part of a deal. However, Kyiv warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow and said it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from launching a renewed assault.
Witkoff said earlier he believed the two sides were "down to one issue", without elaborating.
The high-stakes meeting came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a draft deal was "nearly, nearly ready" and that he and Trump had agreed on the issue of post-war security guarantees.
What's next?
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin's Thursday talks with three US envoys will be followed up later on Friday by security talks in Abu Dhabi between Russian, US and Ukrainian officials.
Russia, however, warned that a durable peace would not be possible unless territorial issues were resolved.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted by Reuters as saying that Russian Admiral Igor Kostyukov would head Moscow's team at the three-way security talks, and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev would meet separately on economic issues with Steve Witkoff, the envoy of President Donald Trump.
But, while outlining the next steps, Ushakov stopped short of hailing any major breakthrough.
"Most importantly, during these talks between our president and the Americans, it was reiterated that without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage, there is no hope of achieving a long-term settlement," he said, referring to last year's Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.
English (US) ·