Russian President Vladimir Putin met in the Kremlin with US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to discuss a possible path to ending Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.
Shortly before the meeting, Putin warned Europe that in the event of a war with Russia, it would be quickly defeated, and he rejected European counter-proposals for Ukraine as absolutely unacceptable to Russia.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the war, but his efforts - including a summit with Putin in Alaska in August and meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - have not brought peace.
Reuters recalls that a set of 28 draft US peace proposals was leaked last week, which alarmed Ukrainian and European officials, who assessed that the plans go too far in meeting Moscow's key demands regarding NATO, Russian control of a fifth of Ukraine, and restrictions on the Ukrainian military.
European powers then drafted a counterproposal, and at talks in Geneva, the United States and Ukraine announced they had drafted an "updated and improved peace framework" to end the war.
The talks lasted until after midnight.
A smiling Putin welcomed Vitkoff, asking about his and Kouchner's walk through Moscow, during which, among other things, they passed through Red Square, past the mausoleum of Vladimir Lenin, and all the way to the Kremlin towers.
"It's a beautiful city," Vitkoff told Putin. Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, and special envoy for investment, Kirill Dmitriev, also attended the meeting. Both sides had interpreters.
The talks continued past midnight Moscow time, after more than four hours.
"Our people are in Russia now to see if we can resolve this. It's not an easy situation, believe me. What a mess," Trump said at a cabinet meeting in Washington, adding that 25.000 to 30.000 people are killed or wounded in the war every month.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is leading efforts to rewrite the original peace plan in line with Ukrainian and European objections, said Witkoff was trying to end the war.
Putin accuses Europe of trying to block peace
Just before the meeting in the Kremlin, Putin accused Europe of trying to undermine Trump's peace efforts by offering proposals that he knows are unacceptable to Russia, Reuters reports.
"They are on the side of war," Putin said of the European powers. "We clearly see that all these changes are aimed at only one thing: to completely block the peace process, to make demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia."
Putin said that Russia does not want a war with Europe, but that if Europe starts one, it would "end so quickly that there would be no one left to negotiate with."
He threatened that Russia, in response to Ukrainian drone attacks on tankers from the Russian "shadow fleet" in the Black Sea, could completely cut off Ukraine's access to the sea. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha assessed that Putin's statements showed that he was not ready to end the war.
Russian forces control more than 19 percent of Ukrainian territory - about 115.600 square kilometers - which is only one percent more than two years ago, although during 2025 they advanced at the fastest pace since 2022, according to pro-Ukrainian maps, Reuters reminds.
Yet, almost four years after the start of the war, Russia has still not managed to conquer Ukraine, even though it is a much smaller country that is strongly supported by Europe and the US.
Zelensky: It is important that there are no deals made behind Ukraine's back
Zelensky, speaking in Dublin, said that everything would depend on the talks in Moscow, but that he feared that the United States could lose interest in the peace process.
"There will be no easy solutions... It is important that everything is fair and transparent, without games behind Ukraine's back," he said.
Putin sees "basis for future agreements"
Putin said that the talks so far are not about a draft agreement, but about a set of proposals that, as he stated last week, "could be the basis for future agreements."
He added that he was ready to talk about peace, but that if Ukraine rejected the deal, Russian forces would continue to advance and seize more Ukrainian territory.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
The conflict first erupted in 2014 in eastern Ukraine after pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted during the Maidan Revolution, and Russia subsequently annexed Crimea and supported separatists in their fighting against the Ukrainian army.
Ahead of Vitkoff's visit, Putin, in a video address, hailed what his commanders called the capture of the town of Pokrovskoye in eastern Ukraine as a significant victory after a protracted campaign.
The Ukrainian military told Reuters that its forces still held the northern part of the city and had launched an attack on Russian forces in southern Pokrovsk.
US officials estimate that more than 1,2 million people have been killed or wounded in the war. Neither Ukraine nor Russia release official casualty figures. The conflict has caused massive destruction in Ukrainian cities and displaced millions of people.
Since the US draft peace proposals surfaced last month, European powers have sought to strengthen Ukraine's position against what they see as a punitive peace deal that could open the door to US investment in Russian oil, gas and rare metals, and return Moscow to the G8.
Key Russian demands include: a guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO, limitations on the Ukrainian military, Russian control over the entire Donbas, recognition of Russian authority over Crimea, Donbas, Zaporizhia, and Kherson, and protection of Russian speakers in Ukraine.
Ukraine says this would be tantamount to capitulation and leave it vulnerable to possible future Russian conquest, although Washington has proposed ten-year security guarantees for Kiev.
Ukraine and European powers see the war as an imperialist attempt by Moscow to seize territory, and warn that if Russia wins, it could one day attack NATO members. Zelensky argues that Russia should not be rewarded for a war it started, according to Reuters.
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