US-Russia talks on Ukraine productive but work remains, says Russian adviser
The Russian president, right, was holding talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, back to camera, in the Kremlin. Picture: Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Talks between Russia and the US on ending the nearly four-year war in Ukraine were productive, but much work remains, a senior adviser to Russian president Vladimir Putin told reporters.
Mr Putin met US president Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin in Moscow for talks that began late on Tuesday as part of a renewed push by the Trump administration to broker a peace deal.
Both sides agreed not to disclose the substance of the talks.
The meeting came days after US officials held talks with a Ukrainian team in Florida and which US secretary of state Marco Rubio described in cautiously optimistic terms.
At the centre of the effort is Mr Trump’s peace plan that became public last month and raised concerns about being tilted heavily towards Moscow.
The proposal granted some of the Kremlin’s core demands that Kyiv has rejected as non-starters, such as Ukraine ceding the entire eastern region of the Donbas to Russia and renouncing its bid to join Nato.
Negotiators have indicated the framework has changed, but it is not clear how.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Putin had accused Ukraine’s European allies of sabotaging the US-led efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“They don’t have a peace agenda, they’re on the side of the war,” Mr Putin said of the Europeans.
Mr Putin ‘s accusations appeared to be his latest attempt to sow dissension between Mr Trump and European countries and set the stage for exempting Moscow from blame for any lack of progress.
He accused Europe of amending peace proposals with “demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia”, thus “blocking the entire peace process” only to blame Russia for it.
He also reiterated his long-held position that Russia has no plans to attack Europe – a concern regularly voiced by some European countries.
“But if Europe suddenly wants to wage a war with us and starts it, we are ready right away. There can be no doubt about that,” Mr Putin said.
Russia started the war in 2022 with its full-scale invasion of a sovereign European country, and European governments have since spent billions of dollars to support Ukraine financially and militarily, to wean themselves from energy dependence on Russia and to strengthen their own militaries to deter Moscow from seizing more territory by force.
They worry that if Russia gets what it wants in Ukraine, it will have free rein to threaten or disrupt other European countries, which have already faced incursions from Russian drones and fighter jets, and an alleged widespread Russian sabotage campaign.
Mr Trump’s peace plan relies on Europe to provide the bulk of the financing and security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine, even though no Europeans appear to have been consulted on the original plan.
This is why European governments have pushed to ensure that peace efforts address European concerns, too.
Coinciding with Mr Witkoff’s trip, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky went to Ireland, continuing his visits to European countries that have helped sustain his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
In what could be a high-stakes day of negotiations, Mr Zelensky said he was expecting swift reports from the US envoys in Moscow on whether talks could move forward, after Mr Trump’s initial 28-point plan was whittled down to 20 items in Sunday’s talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Florida.
“They want to report right after that meeting to us, specifically. The future and the next steps depend on these signals. Such steps will change throughout today, even hour-by-hour, I believe,” Mr Zelensky said at a news conference in Dublin with Irish prime minister Micheal Martin.
“If the signals show fair play with our partners, we then might meet very soon, meet with the American delegation,” he said.
“There is a lot of dialogue, but we need results. Our people are dying every day,” Mr Zelensky said.
“I am ready… to meet with President Trump. It all depends on today’s talks.”
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