Russia’s crushing 5 words to Trump confirm blood will still be spilled | World | News
Vladimir Putin has harshly rejected Donald Trump’s latest attempt to broker a Ukraine peace deal, despite a five-hour meeting in the Kremlin between the Russian leader, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Asked by journalists after the late-night talks whether peace was now closer or further away, Yuri Ushakov, one of Putin’s senior advisers, gave an extremely minimalist five-word answer: “Nothing more, that’s for sure.”
Ushakov’s response, which he quickly tempered with the observation that the meeting had been “quite useful, constructive and substantial,” confirmed that consensus on fundamental issues was still out of reach. In a disappointing development for the Trump administration, the Russian aide noted that the Kremlin does not currently see “a solution to the crisis” without an agreement on territory.
This decision confirms that Moscow is reluctant to accept current proposals and remains determined to occupy Ukrainian territory, effectively disrupting US-led diplomatic pressure towards a quick ceasefire. Ushakov simply confirmed that “some of the American proposals seem more or less acceptable,” but that other important “promises… do not suit us.” He concluded that there was much work to be done in both Washington and Moscow, but that contacts would continue.
At the center of the failed diplomatic efforts is the Trump peace plan, which was made public last month and has been widely criticized for being overly biased against Moscow. The original document was said to contain key Russian demands that Kiev has consistently rejected, such as Ukraine ceding the entire eastern Donbas region and permanently rejecting any attempt to join NATO.
Negotiators stated that the framework was revised as the peace plan was repeated several times at the Kremlin meeting. The talks in Moscow follow a meeting between US officials and a Ukrainian team in Florida over the weekend. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Trump’s initial 28-point plan was eventually reduced to 20 points in these talks, but Moscow’s conclusion casts doubt on progress.
Zelensky, who visited Ireland during the risky negotiations, said the next steps depend entirely on the signals received from US ambassadors. “There is a lot of dialogue, but we need results. Our people are dying every day,” he said.
Coinciding with the diplomatic push, Putin stepped up his rhetoric towards Europe, accusing Kiev’s European allies of actively sabotaging US-led peace efforts. “They have no peace agenda, they are on the side of war,” he claimed, in what appeared to be an attempt to create discord between Trump and European countries. He accused Europe of replacing peace proposals with “demands that are completely unacceptable to Russia”, thus “obstructing the entire peace process” and placing the blame on Moscow.
European governments have provided billions of dollars in financial and military support to Ukraine since 2022, when Russia’s full-scale invasion began. They worry that concessions to Russia in Ukraine could set a precedent to threaten or disturb other European countries. More importantly, the Trump peace plan relies on Europe providing the bulk of the financing and security guarantees for post-war Ukraine, even though European leaders were not consulted on the original document.
European governments are scrambling to ensure any peace effort properly addresses their concerns and are currently working on future security guarantees for Ukraine. European officials warn that the road to peace will be long, and it remains unclear how envoys will bridge the gap over fundamental differences such as who controls which territory. As Ushakov noted, the lack of clear agreement on the land issue underscores the deep divisions the Trump administration still faces in reaching a successful agreement.
