Stop wasting world’s time, Ukraine tells Putin after US talks in Moscow

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Vladimir Putin of “wasting the world’s time” after high-stakes talks between the United States and Russia on ending the war in Ukraine failed to produce concrete results.

Sybiha said, “Russia must stop the bloodshed it started. If this does not happen and Putin spits in the face of the world once again, there must be consequences.”

Sybiha added that the US delegation told their colleagues that the talks “are of positive importance for the peace process” and invited Ukrainian officials to continue talks in the USA in the near future.

President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner spent nearly five hours with Putin at the Kremlin on Tuesday, and the White House said Wednesday they briefed Trump after a “thorough and productive meeting.”

The US-Russia talks followed days of US meetings with Ukrainian and European leaders; Concerns were expressed that an agreement would be made that was too biased towards Russia’s demands.

Kremlin talks appear to have made little concrete progress in reconciling Moscow and Kiev’s positions.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s senior policy adviser, said “no consensus has been reached” on ending the war. “Some of the US proposals seem more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed further,” he said, adding that others had been openly criticized by the Russian leader.

Although Ushakov did not provide further details, at least two major points of contention remain between Moscow and Kiev: the fate of Ukrainian territory seized by Russian forces and security guarantees for Ukraine.

Kiev and its European partners believe that even in the event of a peace agreement, the most effective way to deter Russia from attacking again in the future would be to grant Ukraine membership in NATO.

Russia strongly opposes such a proposal, and Trump has repeatedly signaled that he has no intention of including Kiev in the alliance.

The possibility of Ukraine joining NATO is a “key issue” being discussed in Moscow, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Ushakov hinted that Russia’s negotiating position has strengthened thanks to recent successes on the battlefield.

He said Russian soldiers “helped make our foreign partners’ assessments of the paths to a peace agreement more relevant.”

Ahead of the US visit to the Kremlin, Putin was filmed in army fatigues at a Russian command post; briefing was given by commanders claiming the conquest of the important strategic city of Pokrovsk in Eastern Ukraine and other nearby settlements.

Fighting continues in Pokrovsk and Russian forces cannot control the entire city, but Russian officials clearly believe their message about military gains is being heard by the United States.

Russian forces have made some progress in the east and appear to have stepped up their operations in recent weeks. They captured about 701 square kilometers (270 square miles) of Ukrainian territory in November and now control 19.3% of Ukrainian territory, according to an AFP analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

On Wednesday, the Kremlin said Putin was ready to continue meeting with the Americans “as long as necessary.”

But as Russian-American relations become more cordial, the gap between Moscow and Europe is widening.

Putin accused Europe of sabotaging Russia’s relations with the United States, making demands that Moscow cannot accept, and obstructing the peace process. Shortly before meeting Witkoff and Kushner, Putin told a forum in Moscow that he did not want conflict with Europe but was “ready for war.”

British government officials dismissed Putin’s message as “yet another Kremlin bluster from a president who is not serious about peace.”

NATO foreign ministers met in Brussels on Wednesday and Secretary General Mark Rutte said it was positive that peace talks were resuming but that Ukraine needed to be put in the “strongest position to continue the struggle”.

Meanwhile, EU member states reached an agreement with members of the European Parliament to make Europe completely independent of Russian gas by the end of 2027.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has hailed the “dawn of a new era” under a deal with Russia that will mean long-term gas pipeline contracts will be banned from September 2027 and long-term contracts for liquefied natural gas will be banned from January 2027.

“We chose energy security and independence for Europe. No more blackmail. No more Putin’s market manipulation. We are strong with Ukraine,” EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said on Wednesday. he said.

The commission also proposes to raise €90 billion to finance Ukraine’s military and essential services while Russia’s war continues.

The plan would either require Belgium to agree to a “reparations loan” using frozen Russian assets held at a financial institution in Brussels, or the money would be financed by international borrowing.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko welcomed the proposal, which will meet two-thirds of Ukraine’s financing needs in the next two years.

Belgium has resisted Moscow’s plan to use frozen assets held on its territory due to concerns about legal repercussions. The European Central Bank (ECB) also opposed the idea, saying it would not serve as a support for the compensation loan.

The proposed loan is smaller than the initially planned €140 billion loan, and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said “we support it and of course we take Belgium’s concerns seriously”.