Kremlin signals no breakthrough after Ukraine talks with US

It appears that no progress was made in securing the Ukraine peace agreement in the five-hour talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump’s senior negotiator.

A Kremlin spokesman said the Moscow meeting was “constructive” but that some parts of the plan were unacceptable to Russia.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner joined the talks after weeks of intense diplomacy aimed at ending the war. The U.S. team has not commented since leaving Moscow.

Earlier on Tuesday, Putin said that the changes proposed by Kiev and Europe in the draft US-backed peace plan were unacceptable, adding: “If Europe wants to go to war and starts a war, we are ready now.”

Ukraine and its allies are lobbying the United States to change the draft peace agreement, which the White House is trying to reach a quick agreement on and which the Kremlin has previously said was positive.

This plan, which was thought to be in favor of Russia after it was leaked to the media in November, has undergone many changes in recent weeks.

Asked about the proposal after the Moscow meeting, Putin’s senior aide Yuri Ushakov said the Kremlin “agreed on some points, but we criticized some things.” He added: “We haven’t found a compromise version yet… There’s a lot of work ahead of us.”

Significant disagreements remain between Moscow and Kiev, including over Ukraine agreeing to give up territory it continues to control and over security guarantees provided by Europe.

Moscow and Ukraine’s European allies are also completely at odds over expectations for what a peace deal should look like.

Speaking ahead of the talks, Putin lashed out at leaders on the continent who have supported Kiev’s defensive war efforts since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.

He said European leaders were under the illusion that they could inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. He said his country “does not plan to go to war with Europe, but if Europe suddenly wants to go to war and starts a war, we are ready right now.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after the meeting that he expected to hear from the US team about the Kremlin talks, but it is unclear whether Witkoff and Kushner will fly to Kiev or other European capitals for more face-to-face talks.

Speaking ahead of Kremlin talks, the Ukrainian leader said on Tuesday that there was an opportunity to end the war “now more than ever” but that some elements of the proposals still needed to be worked out.

“Everything depends on today’s discussions,” Zelensky said at a press conference during his official visit to Ireland.

Zelensky reiterated his country’s insistence that Kiev join peace talks and agree on clear security guarantees such as NATO membership, saying “there are no simple solutions”; It was a move that Russia had long opposed and Trump rejected.

“We must stop the war so that Russia does not come back within a year,” Zelensky added.

Ukrainian representatives have held two rounds of high-level talks on the draft plan in recent weeks, attended by Witkoff, Kushner and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The White House said the proposals had been refined “very precisely” as a result, although details of the updated plan have not yet been confirmed.

Putin, who believes Russia has the initiative on the battlefield, appeared firm against their demands last week, while Zelensky has repeatedly said he will never give up control of eastern Ukrainian regions.

As Tuesday’s talks continued, Trump told his cabinet in Washington that the dispute was not easy to resolve and described it as a “mess.”

Kiev’s European allies had responded to the US-backed 28-point plan with their own documents, eliminating many of the most contentious elements, such as Washington’s de facto recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as Russian.

Zelensky met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, and many European leaders attended the meeting virtually.

Macron said there was “no finalized plan to speak of” and that this could only be achieved with contributions from Ukraine and Europe.

Meanwhile, clashes continued on the front lines on Tuesday. The Ukrainian military said it was still fighting Russian troops in the key eastern city of Pokrovsk; This contradicts Moscow’s claim that it took over the place.

The Russian Ministry of Defense shared a video on Telegram claiming that its soldiers were carrying the flag in the strategically important city that it has been trying to capture for more than a year.

Ukraine’s eastern military command claimed that Russia was trying to “plant a flag” on the city so that “propagandists” could say it had been captured. In the statement made on social media, it was said: “They fled in a hurry, the clearing of enemy groups continues.”

While the Ukrainian army stated that Russian troops suffered heavy losses and that their forces still controlled the northern part of the city, international observers also opposed Russia’s claim in the region.

The military in Kiev also rejected claims that Russia had captured the northeastern Ukrainian border town of Vovchansk and said it had “significantly improved” its position in the northeastern town of Kupyans, which it claimed to have captured two weeks ago.

According to the UN, since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed or injured, as well as more than 14,000 civilians.

Civilian targets, including kindergartens, hospitals and residential buildings, were destroyed or severely damaged by night drone or missile attacks.

The conflict between the two former Soviet states dates back to 2014, when Ukraine’s pro-Russian president was overthrown and Russia responded by annexing Crimea and supporting armed uprisings in eastern Ukraine.