US Envoys Witkoff, Kushner Meet Putin Over Russia-Ukraine War

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Presidential Advisor Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday for roughly three hours as the Trump administration renewed its effort to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. Putin opened the meeting by telling the American delegation that the situation in Ukraine remained “difficult,” while praising President Donald Trump for continuing to pursue a negotiated settlement despite the significant differences separating Moscow and Kyiv. According to Reuters, Trump said Friday that Washington had developed a fresh proposal aimed at ending the conflict but did not publicly disclose its terms.

Putin was joined during the Kremlin meeting by foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who had earlier met Witkoff and Kushner upon their arrival in Moscow. Putin praised Trump’s diplomatic involvement, saying the U.S. president understood he was entering a complicated situation but “does not stop his efforts” to help resolve the conflict. Russian state media later showed the American delegation leaving the Kremlin after about three hours of discussions.

The talks also coincided with a temporary reduction in long-range attacks between Russia and Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin ordered Russian forces not to strike Kyiv for three days beginning at midnight Saturday as Witkoff and Kushner prepared to travel to the Ukrainian capital. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv was prepared to refrain from strikes against Moscow through Monday. Putin noted that Ukrainian attacks against Russia had already decreased in intensity and pledged to ensure the safety of the American negotiators. However, Moscow had not agreed to a broader three-day ceasefire.

Despite the renewed diplomacy, Reuters reported that a substantial gulf remains between Russian and Ukrainian positions. A source close to the Kremlin said Putin remained intent on securing additional territory and assessed that an agreement over the front line was unlikely before Russian forces captured the remaining Ukrainian-held portion of the Donetsk region. Western military analysts consider that objective difficult given Russia’s gradual pace of advance, while Ukraine continues to reject demands that it surrender territory it has successfully defended.

The Kremlin separately reiterated Friday that Putin’s existing conditions for a settlement remain “unshakeable.” Those demands include Ukraine relinquishing the entirety of four regions claimed by Russia and abandoning its ambition to join NATO. Kyiv has rejected those conditions, viewing them as demands for territorial surrender and restrictions on its future sovereignty. Fighting has meanwhile continued across the front, while both countries have intensified long-range attacks against targets deep inside each other’s territory since the previous round of peace talks.

Witkoff and Kushner are expected to carry Moscow’s latest position into talks with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Sunday. The Kremlin discussions therefore represent the first stage of another U.S. attempt to determine whether the two sides can be moved toward a common negotiating framework. For now, however, the fundamental questions surrounding territory, Ukraine’s security arrangements and the conditions for ending hostilities remain unresolved, leaving Washington attempting to bridge positions that continue to differ substantially.