MOSCOW – High-stakes negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and a senior U.S. delegation concluded in the early hours of Wednesday without securing a breakthrough toward ending the war in Ukraine. The five-hour marathon session in the Kremlin, which stretched past midnight, underscored the profound chasm between the two powers on core territorial issues.
The American delegation, led by President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and including his son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner, failed to bridge the gap with Russian officials. Following the talks, President Putin’s senior foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, offered a stark assessment to reporters: “No compromises have been found yet. There is still a lot of work to be done.”
Ushakov confirmed that Putin reacted negatively to several key U.S. proposals on the structure of a potential peace deal. While he characterized the discussions as “constructive” and highlighted “significant opportunities” for future U.S.-Russia economic cooperation, he emphasized that no compromise was reached regarding territorial concessions for Ukraine. He also confirmed that no meeting between Putin and Trump is currently scheduled.
This latest meeting marked the sixth visit to Russia this year for Witkoff, and at five hours, it was the longest personal negotiation between him and the Russian president to date. The pattern of lengthy, yet inconclusive, talks has become a hallmark of this backchannel diplomacy:
February 2025: A three-and-a-half-hour meeting.
March 2025: Putin reportedly kept the envoy waiting for eight hours; subsequent talks were rumored to be brief.
April 11, 2025: A four-and-a-half-hour meeting in St. Petersburg.
April 25, 2025: A three-hour session in the Kremlin.
August 6, 2025: A meeting lasting just under three hours.
The diplomatic stalemate in Moscow unfolds against a tense international backdrop. In Brussels, NATO foreign ministers convened to discuss the ongoing peace talks and the alliance’s next steps. Simultaneously, President Putin escalated his rhetoric, dismissing recent European security proposals as “not acceptable” and issuing a blunt warning: “We are not going to fight with Europe, but if Europe wants to fight with us, we are ready right now.”
The uncertainty in Moscow has sparked anxiety in Kyiv. Speaking from Dublin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that while some elements of a draft peace plan “still need to be worked out,” the current moment presents a critical opportunity. “Now more than ever, there is a chance to end this war,” he stated. However, he voiced a significant concern that the United States, amid its intense diplomatic engagement with Russia, might lose interest or leverage in the peace process, the outcome of which he said “would depend heavily on the talks in Moscow.”
Following the Kremlin meeting, Witkoff departed for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to brief the White House on the discussions. With both sides digging in on fundamental issues and no further top-level talks announced, the path to peace remains elusive, leaving Ukraine and its allies awaiting the next move in a high-stakes diplomatic standoff.
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