Putin Holds Substantive Talks With U.S. Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow

Putin meets US envoys

Russian President Vladimir Putin held more than three hours of talks with U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Moscow Kremlin on Saturday, with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov describing the discussion as "substantive, constructive, exceptionally candid, and conducted in a spirit of trust." Ushakov said the Russian side provided "clear and comprehensive assessments of the situation developing during the special military operation," while the envoys were scheduled to hold talks with Ukrainian officials Sunday. Putin told the envoys that Russia was making "real progress" on the battlefield and stressed the necessity of addressing "all the root causes of the conflict," according to Ushakov as cited by Reuters.

The talks came as Russia and Ukraine pledged not to strike each other’s capitals for three days during the negotiations, and ABC News reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not target Moscow with drones and missiles during the envoys’ visit. AIn Kyiv, Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Kyiv was ready for a "constructive" discussion with US representatives, while Al Jazeera reported the envoys’ trip to Moscow was described as an "important peacemaking visit" after the three-hour meeting.

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Ceasefire pledges and rhetoric

As the envoys moved from Moscow to Kyiv, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would halt attacks on Moscow "from now" until Monday, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president had given the order "not to strike Kyiv for three days."

In Moscow, Putin welcomed the envoys in a ceremony aired on Russian television, telling them: “The situation is, of course, not simple.”

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After the Moscow meeting, ABC News reported that Putin expressed his "best wishes and words of gratitude to the President of the United States, Mr. ATrump," while the Kremlin aide said Putin confirmed his intention to continue working jointly with the Americans to seek political and diplomatic solutions.

In Kyiv, Al Jazeera reported Zelenskyy told the envoys, "We are interested in bringing the end of the war closer," and Witkoff said after the talks that it was "very important" the delegation had arrived to see Ukraine.

Al Jazeera also framed the talks as substantive while noting that little new information came out, with Audrey MacAlpine saying, "we haven’t learned very much new from it, sort of kicking the can down the road."

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What’s at stake next

The diplomatic push unfolded alongside continued attacks, with ABC News reporting that Russian attacks across multiple Ukrainian regions killed one person and injured at least 10 others overnight into Sunday, and Ukraine’s air force said it had intercepted 82 drones out of the 108 launched by Russia overnight. AIn the same reporting, ABC News said Russian air defences overnight shot down 258 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions, occupied Crimea and the waters of the Black and Azov seas, underscoring how the ceasefire pledge sat within an active air war. AAl Jazeera reported that Putin told the envoys Russia would achieve its objectives and that the "root causes" of the conflict needed to be resolved, while it also quoted Zelenskyy’s warning that Kyiv was ready to refrain from strikes on Moscow through the end of Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The stakes also included the terms each side insists on, with ABC News reporting that Putin has recently signaled his demands for territory in Ukraine remain unchanged, which remain unacceptable for Kyiv. ALooking ahead, Al Jazeera reported that the talks in Moscow were described as "substantive, very frank and constructive" and that a "whole series of ideas for a peace settlement" had been formulated, while ABC News said the next steps would be announced in the coming weeks.A

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