Verhandlungen: Kreml spricht von konstruktiven Gesprächen mit US-Gesandten

The Kremlin described the recent resumption of talks between President Vladimir Putin and US intermediaries Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as constructive, substantive, and trusting. The meeting with US envoy to a potential end of the Ukraine conflict lasted over three hours, according to Putin's foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov.

Ushakov emphasized that Putin had once again proven he would achieve his war objectives, which he called Russia's military special operation. Putin had shared his assessment of the situation, highlighting the actual successes of the Russian army in the operational area, Ushakov added. However, experts have differing opinions on the alleged and real progress of the warring parties on the battlefield.

There is often doubt about whether Putin is being accurately informed by his General Staff. Crucially for Russia, it is primarily the elimination of the root causes of the conflict that matters, Ushakov said, including Moscow's handling of the Russian language in parts of Ukraine. The US envoys were supposed to convey Putin's position to Kyiv, though Ushakov did not comment on new proposals presented by Trump and the Kremlin during the meeting.

Putin relied on Witkoff and Kushner to pass this information to Kyiv, he stressed. This initially did not suggest movement towards resolving the conflict. The two envoys are now traveling to the Ukrainian capital, where they are scheduled to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky today. This will be their first visit to Ukraine after several previous Russia visits.

Putin has promised a three-day ceasefire, during which Russia will refrain from air strikes on Kyiv, but Zelensky accused Russian military of deliberately bombing the Kiew airports of Schuljany and Boryspil prior to the arrival of the US. So far, talks between Putin and Trump's envoy have led to direct negotiations between Russians and Ukrainians, but they stalled and were stopped because Witkoff and Kushner had been busy with Trump's war against Iran in recent months.