MOSCOW (AP) — U.S. envoys met Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin and then left for Ireland to talk with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Washington sought new momentum in its peace efforts.
Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is also President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, brokered talks this week between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv. The meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, brought the first direct discussions between Ukrainian and Russian representatives in nine months as the push for a settlement stalled.
The two days of talks that ended Wednesday produced no major breakthrough, aside from an agreement to swap a large number of prisoners, with the exact figure still to be announced.
Stand with free and independent journalism. Join Press Pass from PBS News
Kushner and Witkoff met with Putin in a meeting that lasted about two hours. They then headed for Dublin for talks with Zelenskyy as the conflict stretches toward the five-year mark.
Europe seeks a place at the negotiating table
Kushner said one of the goals of the meeting with Putin was to get the Russian leader’s blessing for European representatives to be part of the talks, which are looking at the continent’s broader security arrangements.
The U.S. and Zelenskyy want Europe to appoint a single person to negotiate with Moscow.
READ MORE: Russia and Ukraine hold nearly 4 hours of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi
Russia, meanwhile, doesn’t want European countries involved in the direct negotiations, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine’s military effort. The Europeans are concerned about Russia’s conduct and broader intentions on the continent.
But Washington and European capitals have sometimes seemed at odds in their diplomatic efforts. Trump has repeatedly sided with Putin, last month waiving sanctions and striking a deal to import Russian diesel, in moves that dismayed Ukraine and European leaders.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov argued that for Europe to join peace talks, it first must name a representative.
“The Europeans squabble like spiders in a jar. If someone takes the initiative to establish contact with the Russian side, such people are facing ostracism.”
Many in Europe also see the inclusion of Moscow in discussions about postwar European security as an unwelcome concession to Putin, who has described NATO’s eastward expansion as a main security threat to Russia. Putin has demanded the trans-Atlantic alliance’s troops be pulled back from Russia’s borders.
READ MORE: The Kremlin hopes the U.S. election shake-up won’t shift Trump’s negotiations on Ukraine
Some analysts say negotiators may be looking to grant Russia concessions on NATO’s strategy in return for peace in Ukraine — a possibility that alarms European leaders.
The Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi “agreed on many of the principles, but are still apart on some of the ways to accomplish” peace, Kushner said in Moscow.
Putin reaffirmed to the U.S. envoys that any European troops sent to Ukraine after a ceasefire would be “absolutely unacceptable” and Russia would regard the deployment as a security threat and legitimate targets. “In other words, the war would resume immediately,” he said.
He also said Russia regards its border with Ukraine to be sealed by a prospective peace deal as now extending to cover the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow annexed in 2022 but never fully controlled.
Zelenskyy sees a political ‘window of opportunity’
Zelenskyy is in Dublin for a meeting of more than 40 European countries that also includes NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Rutte said the U.S., Europe and Ukraine are “very much aligned” on what security guarantees should look like, following a meeting in Paris in January. “But now of course we need the peace deal, or at least a ceasefire,” Rutte said.
Zelenskyy said political changes, including Democrats taking over the U.S. Congress in January following midterm elections and balloting in France next year, could bring “a window of opportunity” for a peace deal.
“The political landscape in Europe could change in 2027. … We also see changes already taking place in the United States,” Zelenskyy said in Dublin late Wednesday.
He called the proposed prisoner exchange a positive step but also insisted Ukraine won’t surrender Russian-occupied territory in return for peace.
Russia and Ukraine have occasionally swapped prisoners, but both sides remain far apart in their terms for accepting a settlement.
Fighting continues as another bitter winter approaches
Amid the negotiations, fighting continues along the 1,200-kilometer (about 750-mile) front line.
Russia’s bigger army has been held back by dogged Ukrainian resistance while Moscow’s drone and missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities disrupted heat, electricity and water supplies to Ukrainian cities, sapping public morale in what Kyiv calls a “weaponization of winter.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 71 Ukrainian drones overnight. Its forces struck a drone-manufacturing plant in Kyiv and three other facilities producing missile fuel and drone components in the area around the Ukrainian capital, the ministry said.
Russia launched missiles and 123 drones, 73 of them jet-powered drones, at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. Hits were recorded at 17 locations, it said.
U.S. Starlink problems return, Zelenskyy says
Ukraine is experiencing another slowdown in the U.S. Starshield system — SpaceX’s military-grade version of the Starlink satellite internet service — that the country needs to defend itself against Russian attacks, Zelenskyy said Thursday on social media.
Military units have recorded “significant disruptions,” including speed restrictions limiting Ukrainian drones to 161 kph (100 mph), Zelenskyy said, adding that a military investigation established that the restrictions weren’t random errors.
Ukraine uses Starlink and Starshield for intercepting Russian drones and launching its own strikes.
Last month, limits on Ukrainian drone speeds severely disrupted operations and alarmed Kyiv officials who fear U.S. support could drop off.
Elon Musk acknowledged that his company SpaceX had throttled the Starlink internet service in Ukraine for about a week, saying the system couldn’t be used for offensive strikes against Russia.
Zelenskyy said in Dublin that the speed limits cover operations in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and that Kyiv is trying to find out from U.S. officials what is going on. “If someone in America is making decisions that basically treat Ukrainian territory as if it is not Ukrainian, then this tells us where things are going,” he said.
Russian colonel reportedly killed by a car bomb
A Russian serviceman was killed in St. Petersburg early Thursday when his vehicle exploded, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s main criminal investigation agency. It didn’t identify the victim or say who was behind the bombing.
The Fontanka news outlet said the victim was a colonel and that a bomb in his car exploded as he drove off.
Several senior Russian military officers have been killed by bombings and other attacks that Moscow blames on Ukraine. Kyiv has claimed responsibility for some attacks on Russian soil.
Susie Blann and Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jill Lawless in Dublin, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed.
