A top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said there is still “much work to be done” after President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, amid a push by Mr. Trump to end the war in Ukraine.
The meeting lasted roughly five hours and came on the heels of talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Florida over the weekend.
Yuri Ushakov, a top Putin official, told reporters following Tuesday’s meeting that the talks were “constructive, very useful and substantive,” but said a compromise to the lingering territorial issues in Ukraine wasn’t found.
“The territorial issue, naturally, is the most important for us, and for the Americans too. A compromise option has not yet been found, but some American developments look more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed,” he said. “Some formulations that were proposed to us are acceptable to us.”
“We are no closer to resolving the crisis in Ukraine, and there is much work to be done,” Ushakov said.
Ushakov said that Moscow was given four more documents in addition to the original 28-point plan the Trump administration presented last month, but did not elaborate on what those documents contained.
Ushakov said both Russia and the U.S. agreed not to disclose the specific details of the talks. No direct talks between Putin and Mr. Trump are currently planned, but Putin asked Witkoff and Kushner to relay “important political signals” to Mr. Trump, Ushakov said.
Witkoff and Kushner are set to return to the U.S. to discuss the meeting with Mr. Trump, and will then get back in touch with Russian officials by phone, Ushakov said.
Kristina Kormilitsyna / AP
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who took part in weekend talks with Ukrainian officials in Florida, previously said the conversations were “another very productive session,” but “there are a lot of moving parts.”
Mr. Trump had told reporters after Sunday’s talks, “I think that there’s a good chance we can make a deal.”
The original U.S.-backed peace proposal to end Russia’s war on Ukraine that was unveiled last month has gone through changes after the initial plan was criticized by some as being too favorable to Russia, Mr. Trump told reporters over the weekend. One provision that drew heavy pushback from U.S. and European officials called for Ukraine to cede territory it currently controls in Donetsk to Russia.
“They’re making concessions,” Mr. Trump said of the Russians. “They’re big concessions. They stop fighting, and they don’t take any more land.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a Tuesday news conference that the plan had been whittled down to 20 points following talks in Geneva and Florida. He said later on the social media platform Telegram that Ukraine would “wait for signals from the American delegation after its meetings in Russia.”
“We will receive certain signals. If the signals work, if it is fair play with our partners, then perhaps we will meet with the American delegation very soon,” he said, adding, “I am ready to meet with President Trump. Everything depends on today’s talks.”
Putin has previously called the proposals a “set of issues put forward for discussion” as opposed to a firm draft agreement.
Last week, a U.S. official told CBS News that Ukraine had “agreed to a peace deal,” with the official and Ukrainian national security adviser Rustem Umerov saying a common understanding on a proposal had been reached, with details still to be worked out.
Mr. Trump expressed optimism over the development, saying there were only a “few remaining points of disagreement.” Moscow, however, said it was “premature” to say the two sides were close to a peace deal.