A marathon five-hour meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner failed to make any major breakthroughs in efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for talks with the Kremlin leader after a Sunday meeting with key members of the Ukrainian delegation on a revised peace plan.
Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who also attended the Witkoff-Kushner meeting alongside Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told reporters afterward that the talks were “extremely useful, constructive and substantive,” according to a report readout released by the Kremlin.
“We specifically talked about territorial issues, without which the crisis cannot be resolved, as we see it. Of course, we also talked about the broad prospects for future economic interaction between our countries,” Ushakov said.
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Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev arrive for talks with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin Senate Palace in Moscow on December 2, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
He added that the Russian side received four documents from Witkoff and Kushner during the meeting, including one consisting of 27 points, but declined to go into detail about what they contained.
The original leaked 28-point plan was criticized by European leaders as too favorable to Moscow and was later scaled down.
The issue of territory was an important part of the discussion, according to Ushakov, who said no compromise had yet been found.
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“However, some American proposals seem more or less acceptable. They nevertheless require further discussion. Certain wordings that have been offered to us are not suitable for us. In other words, the work will continue,” the senior Russian diplomat said.
President Vladimir Putin holds talks with Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev at the Kremlin Senate Palace in Moscow on December 2, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
A major sticking point in the negotiations has been Russia’s territorial demands, which wants Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas, including parts that its military currently does not control.
The Institute for the Study of War, a nonpartisan public policy research organization follows the front lines of the war between Russia and Ukraine, said that Russian troops have advanced in Sumy Oblast and near Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk and Huliaipole.
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The Ukrainian Joint Forces Task Force reported this on Telegram still in control most of the city of Kupiansk, although Russian forces maintain isolated groups in the northern parts.
An evacuation van drives through the largely destroyed city of Kupiansk, Ukraine, on January 6, 2025. (Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, was preparing for a meeting in Brussels with national security advisers to European leaders to inform their colleagues about the Witkoff-Kushner meeting with Putin.
“After Brussels, Rustem Umerov and Andrii Hnatov will begin preparations for a meeting with President Trump’s envoys in the United States,” Zelenskyy said. “As always, Ukraine will work constructively in the pursuit of real peace. I expect a new report following the results of today’s meetings in Europe.”
