Putin meets US envoys in Moscow ahead of trilateral talks on Ukraine peace plan
The United States has been holding parallel discussions with Moscow, Kyiv and European leaders, reviewing multiple draft frameworks aimed at ending the war. Despite repeated assurances from Trump that an agreement was within reach, a final deal has so far remained elusive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held late-night talks with three US envoys in Moscow on Thursday as diplomatic efforts intensified to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine, with territory, security guarantees and Nato’s future role still unresolved.
The Kremlin said the meeting, which began shortly before midnight, lasted more than three and a half hours and concluded early on Friday. The talks came just hours after US President Donald Trump said a deal to end the conflict was "reasonably close".
The US delegation included Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Josh Gruenbaum, recently appointed as a senior adviser to Trump’s Board of Peace, an initiative aimed at resolving international conflicts.
A brief video from showed Putin greeting the Americans and inviting them to sit at a long oval table. As in previous contacts with Washington, the Russian leader was accompanied by his foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov and special envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said on social media platform X that a significant Russia–US discussion took place at the Kremlin.
According to news agency Reuters, minutes after the talks began, Russia announced a patrol by strategic bomber aircraft, a move often used as a signal of military strength. The defence ministry said Tu-22M3 long-range bombers flew for more than five hours over the Baltic Sea, escorted by fighter jets. The aircraft type has been widely used by Russia during the war to strike Ukrainian cities, military targets and energy infrastructure.
SECURITY GUARANTEES READY, NOT LAND: ZELENSKYY
Trump has repeatedly pressed for an end to the war, the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. On Wednesday, he said Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be "stupid" not to reach an agreement.
Witkoff said in Davos that negotiations had narrowed to "one last issue" but did not specify what it was. Both Moscow and Kyiv, however, have long acknowledged that territory remains the central obstacle.
Putin has demanded that Ukraine relinquish territory in eastern regions currently occupied by Russian forces, while Kyiv has firmly rejected any surrender of land it has defended at heavy cost. Russia also insists that Ukraine abandon its ambition to join Nato and has ruled out any future deployment of Nato troops on Ukrainian soil as part of a peace deal.
Witkoff and Kushner travelled to Moscow from Davos, Switzerland, where they met Ukrainian officials earlier in the week. Trump also met Zelenskyy on Thursday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
After that meeting, Zelenskyy said security guarantees for Ukraine had been finalised with the United States, but confirmed that territorial issues remained unresolved. He described the discussions as "productive and meaningful."
TRILATERAL TALKS AHEAD
In what Zelenskyy described as a positive step, negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States are expected to hold trilateral talks for the first time in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday.
He said peace proposals were "nearly ready" and stressed that compromises would be required from all sides. "Russians have to be ready for compromises, because everybody has to be ready — not only Ukraine," he said.
As diplomatic activity accelerates, fighting continues on the ground and trust between the parties remains fragile.
WAR GRINDS ON AS WINTER BITES
Ukraine is enduring one of the harshest winters of the war, with Russian missile and drone attacks battering energy infrastructure. Prolonged power cuts have left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity and heating in freezing temperatures.
Russia currently controls about 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory, though its battlefield gains along the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line have come at significant cost. Ukraine, meanwhile, faces shortages of funds and manpower, despite expanding domestic arms production and continued reliance on Western weapons.