Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, greets President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, right, and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, center, during their meeting Thursday at the Kremlin Senate Palace in Moscow.
Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin swimming pool photo via AP
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Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin swimming pool photo via AP
MOSCOW — U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys met with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday as Washington sought new momentum in peace efforts after two days of U.S.-mediated negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations.
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law, brokered the negotiations in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. These were the first direct talks between representatives of Moscow and kyiv in nine months as peace efforts stalled.
The two days of talks which ended on Wednesday produced no major progress, apart from an agreement on the exchange of a large number of prisoners, the exact number of which has not yet been announced.
Kushner and Witkoff went directly to the Kremlin to brief Putin in a meeting that lasted about two hours and are expected to travel to Dublin, Ireland, for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the conflict stretches on for five years.
US envoys also want Europe at the negotiating table
Kushner said one goal of the meeting with Putin was to get the Russian leader’s blessing for European representatives to participate in the negotiations, which focus on the continent’s broader security arrangements.
The United States and Zelensky want Europe to appoint a single person to negotiate with Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, second from right, speaks to U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, second from left, and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, third from left, while Russian Presidential Foreign Policy Advisor Yuri Ushakov, behind Putin, and the President’s Special Representative of the Russian Direct Investment Fund for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries, Kirill Dmitriev, right, sit nearby during the meeting at the Senate Palace of Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday.
Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin swimming pool photo via AP
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Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin swimming pool photo via AP
But Moscow does not want European countries involved in direct negotiations, complaining that they finance and supply Ukraine’s military effort. Europeans are concerned about Russia’s behavior and its broader intentions on the continent.
Many in Europe view Moscow’s inclusion in postwar European security discussions as an unwelcome concession from Putin, who has described NATO’s eastward expansion as a major threat to Russia’s security. Putin demanded that the transatlantic alliance’s troops be withdrawn from Russia’s borders.
Some analysts say negotiators could seek to grant Russia concessions on NATO strategy in exchange for peace in Ukraine – a possibility that worries European leaders.
The Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi “have agreed on many principles, but are still divergent on certain means of achieving” peace, Kushner said in Moscow.
Putin reiterated to US envoys that any European troops sent to Ukraine after a ceasefire would be “absolutely unacceptable” and that Russia would view the deployment as a security threat and legitimate targets. “In other words, the war would resume immediately,” he said.
He also said Russia considers its border with Ukraine sealed by a possible peace deal that now extends to the four Ukrainian regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 but never fully controlled.
Zelensky sees this as a political “window of opportunity”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks at a press conference on Wednesday following a bilateral meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin, ahead of the European Political Community summit.
Virginie Mayo/AP
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Virginie Mayo/AP
Zelensky is in Dublin for a meeting of more than 40 European countries also attended by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Rutte said the United States, Europe and Ukraine were “very aligned” on what security guarantees should look like, following a meeting in Paris in January. “But now, of course, we need a peace agreement, or at least a ceasefire,” Rutte said.
Zelensky said political changes, including the arrival of Democrats in the U.S. Congress in January after midterm elections and voting in France next year, could open “a window of opportunity” for a peace deal.
“The political landscape in Europe could change in 2027. … We also see that changes are already happening in the United States,” Zelensky said in Dublin on Wednesday evening.
He called the proposed prisoner exchange a positive step, but also insisted that Ukraine would not cede Russian-occupied territory in exchange for peace.
Russia and Ukraine have occasionally exchanged prisoners, but the two sides remain far apart on the terms of agreeing to a settlement.
Fighting continues as another harsh winter approaches
Amid the negotiations, fighting continues along the 1,200-kilometer (about 750-mile) front line.
Russia’s largest army has been held back by fierce Ukrainian resistance, while Moscow’s drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities have disrupted heat, electricity and water supplies to Ukrainian cities, undermining public morale in what kyiv calls a “militarization of winter.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 71 Ukrainian drones overnight. Its forces struck a drone manufacturing factory in kyiv and three other facilities producing missile fuel and drone components in the area around the Ukrainian capital, the ministry said.
Russia launched missiles and 123 drones, including 73 jets, into Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Shots were recorded in 17 locations, he said.
Starlink problems in the US return, says Zelenskyy
Ukraine is experiencing a further slowdown in the U.S. Starshield system — the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service — which the country needs to defend against Russian attacks, Zelenskyy said Thursday on social media.
Military units recorded “significant disruptions,” including speed restrictions limiting Ukrainian drones to 161 km/h (100 mph), Zelensky said, adding that a military investigation established that the restrictions were not accidental errors.
Ukraine uses Starlink and Starshield to intercept Russian drones and launch its own strikes.
Limits on the speed of Ukrainian drones last month severely disrupted operations and alarmed kyiv officials who fear a decline in U.S. support.
Elon Musk admitted that his company SpaceX limited Starlink internet service in Ukraine for about a week, saying the system could not be used for offensive strikes against Russia.
Zelensky said in Dublin that the speed limits covered operations in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine and that kyiv was trying to find out from U.S. officials what was happening. “If someone in America makes decisions that basically treat Ukrainian territory as if it’s not Ukrainian, then that tells us where things are going,” he said.
Russian colonel reportedly killed by car bomb
A law enforcement officer inspects the site of a car explosion that killed a serviceman in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday.
P.A.
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P.A.
A Russian serviceman was killed Thursday morning in St. Petersburg when his vehicle exploded, according to the Russian Investigative Committee, the country’s main criminal investigation agency. He did not identify the victim or indicate who was behind the attack.
The Fontanka newspaper said the victim was a colonel and that a bomb in his car exploded as he was leaving.
Several senior Russian military officers have been killed in bombings and other attacks that Moscow blames on Ukraine. Kyiv has claimed responsibility for some attacks on Russian soil.
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