Ukraine talks with US envoys useful: Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin held more than three hours of “highly useful” talks on Saturday evening with two US envoys seeking a deal to end the Ukraine war, a Kremlin aide said, but he gave no indication of any breakthrough.

The aide, Yuri Ushakov, said Americans Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner “outlined a number of ideas regarding possible avenues for a settlement”. Ushakov did not say what these ideas were.

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He said Putin had told the pair that Russia was making “real progress” on the battlefield and was confident of achieving its goals, while stressing the necessity of addressing “all the root causes of the conflict”.

These are statements that Moscow has made repeatedly since Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Russia’s smaller neighbour in February 2022. Both sides have intensified long-range air strikes in recent weeks while the front lines remain largely static.

A White House official told Reuters the talks had been “substantive” and that next steps would be announced in the coming weeks.

Witkoff and Kushner flew out of Moscow soon after the talks with Putin and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv yesterday.

“Talks with Kyiv were ‘substantive’ and will continue ‘as long as it takes’,” Witkoff said at the end of the talks with Zelensky, while the Ukrainian president said the first round of talks between Ukraine and US negotiators was over.

Like all visiting officials, Witkoff and Kushner arrived by train, with “Peace Express” displayed on the platform at Kyiv Central Station. Putin promised to ensure the safety of the US negotiators. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Putin had ordered the Russian military not to strike Kyiv for three days because of their trip.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in Ryazan and targeted other cities across Russia overnight yesterday, monitoring channels and authorities reported.

Air defenses were engaged in Rostov Oblast’s city of Bataysk, a suburb of the regional capital Rostov-on-Don, Telegram channel Exilenova Plus reported.

Over the previous 10 days, Russia pounded the Ukrainian capital day and night with missiles and drones, including an attack on Friday on the headquarters of the SBU security service.

Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, posted on X that the meeting had been an “important peacemaking visit”. He and Ushakov were both present at the meeting.

The Russian president praised Trump’s efforts to end the war.

“Understanding that he is entering a difficult situation, he nevertheless does not stop his efforts to help bring about a settlement and to make his contribution to resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict,” Putin said in televised remarks at the start of the talks.