RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin held more than three hours of talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Saturday as Washington stepped up efforts to broker an end to the Ukraine war.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described the talks as “highly useful”, saying the US envoys had presented several ideas on possible avenues towards a settlement.
He gave no details of the proposals or indicated that any breakthrough had been reached.
Ushakov said Putin told the envoys that Russia was making “real progress” on the battlefield and remained confident of achieving its objectives, while stressing the need to address what Moscow calls “all the root causes of the conflict”.
Reuters cited a White House official describing the talks as “substantive”, adding that the next steps would be announced in the coming weeks.
Witkoff and Kushner, who were visiting Moscow for the first time since January on behalf of US President Donald Trump, left Russia shortly after the meeting.
They are due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Sunday.
Ushakov said the discussions went beyond the Ukraine conflict to include economic issues and potential major Russian-American projects.
“Overall, one can say that the negotiations were timely and highly useful for both sides,” he said.
Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who attended the meeting alongside Ushakov, described the visit as an “important peacemaking visit” in a post on X.
Putin also 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.
Trump said on Friday that the United States had a fresh proposal aimed at ending the war, but did not provide details.
Putin also promised to ensure the safety of the US negotiators. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Putin had ordered Russian forces not to strike Kyiv for three days during their visit.
The temporary halt came after Russia had pounded the Ukrainian capital with missiles and drones over the previous 10 days, including an attack on the headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU security service on Friday.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has carried out strikes on Russian refineries, oil terminals and warehouses in an effort to increase the cost of Moscow’s continued war effort.
Zelenskiy said Kyiv was prepared to refrain from striking Moscow through Monday.
Despite the diplomatic activity, Russia and Ukraine remain far apart over the terms for ending the war.
A person close to the Kremlin told Reuters that Putin remained intent on capturing additional territory, including the remaining part of the Donetsk region.
Ukraine has rejected any demand to surrender territory it has defended at significant cost, while Western military analysts have described Russia’s prospects of rapidly securing the remaining areas as remote.
The Kremlin has also maintained that Putin’s position that Ukraine should cede the entirety of four regions claimed by Russia and abandon its NATO membership ambitions remains “unshakeable”. -September 6, 2026
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