Five hours of talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and top US negotiators did not yield a breakthrough on a possible Ukraine peace deal, a Kremlin aide said early Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner sat down for the high-level talks with Putin.
Among the sticking points were Kremlin demands for Ukraine to formally renounce its aspiration to join NATO and for Ukraine to surrender territory in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine that has been annexed, but not yet conquered, by Russia.
Ukrainian officials have continued to reject Russia’s maximalist demands, which the Kremlin continues to consider red lines.
Hours before the meeting, Putin warned that, while Russia is not planning to go to war with Europe, it was “ready” to respond if it were to initiate one. Putin also accused European leaders of trying to block the US-proposed peace deal, likely referring to the changes made to the original plan.
A senior NATO official said they see no indication that Moscow is willing to make “meaningful concessions” to end the war, adding that Russia maintains its territorial demands and aims “to ensure Ukraine’s military capabilities are weakened as much as possible.”
