President Vladimir Putin met with Washington’s representatives on Tuesday for talks on a peace plan
US envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to bring the Ukraine conflict to a settlement, US President Donald Trump told journalists on Wednesday.
A day earlier, Witkoff and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, visited the Kremlin for talks on key parts of a US-backed peace proposal. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov characterized the visit as “constructive, very useful, and substantive,” but stressed that no overarching compromise has yet been reached.
In a press conference at the Oval Office, Trump was asked whether the US envoys believe Putin still wants to make peace.
“He would like to end the war… That was their impression,” he said.
“President Putin had a very good meeting yesterday with Jared Kushner and with Steve Witkoff,” he added. “What comes out of that meeting, I can’t tell you, because it does take two to tango.”
Trump noted that he urged Ukraine to sue for peace earlier this year.
“I said, you have no cards… That would have been a much better time to settle,” he said, adding that since then, the situation for Kiev has deteriorated.
Ukraine is “very satisfied” with the current US proposal, all things considered, he said.
The Kremlin has remained tight-lipped on the talks, decrying “megaphone diplomacy.”
Moscow believes “it is better for these negotiations to be conducted in silence,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Wednesday.
“Some things were accepted, some were marked as unacceptable,” he said, but declined to elaborate.
Russia has maintained that it prefers a diplomatic settlement but will continue pursuing its objectives in the Ukraine conflict by military means as long as Kiev rejects compromise. In recent weeks, Russian forces have taken two major cities in Ukraine, along with dozens of smaller settlements across several regions.
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