Kremlin holds meeting between Putin and Trump envoy to try to seal peace agreement

A peace agreement on Ukraine is now closer than ever, but the measures taken are not enough to achieve a result that satisfies everyone, said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, commenting on a five-hour meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Russian presidential advisor Yury Ushakov highlighted that Putin sent several important political messages to American President Trump through Witkoff. However, according to Ushakov, the parties have not yet reached a consensus on a peace plan for Ukraine. They agreed not to disclose details of the negotiations in Moscow.

The TASS agency compiled the main points of the comments made about the meeting.

Washington’s comment

Rubio said that while in Moscow, American officials were looking for a way to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, with the main point of contention being the 20 percent of Donetsk People’s Republic territory that Kiev still controls.

The Secretary of State noted that the US government did not consider continued support for Kiev to be a realistic strategy.

According to him, the United States believes that Russia and Ukraine are now closer to a peace agreement than they have been in the last three years, but this is not enough to achieve the ultimate goal.

Rubio stressed that the US continued to work to resolve the conflict, but that it was up to Moscow and Kiev to make the decision to end it.

Moscow statements

Kirill Dmitriev, special envoy of the Russian president for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries and general director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), described the meeting as “productive”.

Kremlin adviser Yury Ushakov noted that the meeting between Putin and Witkoff was constructive, useful and substantial. According to him, the parties managed to discuss in depth ways to resolve the situation in Ukraine, with a special focus on territorial issues.

Ushakov said the specific wording of Washington’s peace plan was not discussed, with the focus being on the substance of related documents. He added that Russia has received four versions of the US peace plan for Ukraine in addition to the initial version.

According to Ushakov, a consensus has not yet been reached on the peace plan for Ukraine, as “some US proposals seem more or less acceptable, but need to be discussed”. “Some of the proposals presented to us do not suit us. That said, the work will continue,” explained Ushakov.

Ushakov refused to specify the proposals that Russia considered inappropriate: “We agreed with our American colleagues not to disclose the essence of the conversations we had. This is quite logical. The conversations were completely confidential and classified.”

He also claimed that Putin sent several important political messages to US President Donald Trump through Witkoff.

Witkoff’s plans

After the meeting, the American delegation announced plans to return directly home instead of traveling to Kiev, Ushakov said at a news conference.

Witkoff’s plane did not make any stops in Europe and was handed over to Canadian air traffic controllers at around 4:45 a.m. GMT, a European air traffic control source told TASS.

Russia-US meeting

The meeting between Putin and Witkoff, focused on resolving the conflict in Ukraine, lasted around five hours.

The Russian delegation was also attended by presidential advisor Yury Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, special presidential envoy for investments and economic cooperation with foreign countries and general director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, while the USA was represented by Jared Kushner, businessman, investor and founder of the company Affinity Partners.

Fonte: TASS