Russia-US talks on Ukraine peace deal end without breakthrough, Putin aide says

Five hours of talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and top United States negotiators did not yield a breakthrough on a possible Ukraine peace deal, a Kremlin aide said early Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner sat down for the high-level talks with Putin in the Kremlin Tuesday, culminating a week of intensive diplomacy as the Trump administration continues its push to end the Russian war in Ukraine.

The talks in the Russian capital were “very useful, constructive, and highly substantive,” but a “compromise option was not found,” Russian foreign policy adviser and Putin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters after the meeting.

“Some of the American proposals look more or less acceptable, though they need to be discussed,” Ushakov said, adding that other points “do not suit us.”

“We will receive certain signals, and if the signals work out – if it is a fair game with our partners – then perhaps we will meet with the American delegation very soon,” Zelensky said before the talks.

The Ukrainian leader said that a higher-level delegation would be sent if the messages from the Americans signal an opportunity for “global but swift decisions.”

Hours before the meeting, Putin issued a warning that while Russia is not planning to go to war with Europe, it was “ready” to respond if Europe were to initiate one.

Earlier, Putin had accused European leaders of trying to block the US-proposed peace deal by “putting forward demands that are absolutely unacceptable for Russia,” and suggested that Ukraine’s European allies are “on the side of the war.”