Russian President Vladimir Putin held over three hours of talks with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Saturday also discussing ways to end the war in Ukraine. The meeting ended without any breakthrough announcement.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov called the talks "substantive, constructive and highly useful" saying the Americans presented ideas for a possible settlement though details were not disclosed. Putin told the envoys Russia was making steady battlefield progress and remained confident of achieving its goals while insisting the war's "root causes" must be addressed.
A White House official described the discussions as substantive also adding that next steps would be announced soon. Witkoff and Kushner left Moscow shortly after the meeting and are set to visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday their first such visit during the peace process.
Ahead of the talks President Putin ordered a three-day halt to strikes on Kyiv while Zelensky agreed to pause attacks on Moscow through Monday. Despite this, fighting continued elsewhere. Russian strikes killed at least 11 people across Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions, damaging homes, businesses and infrastructure. Ukraine's air force said it downed 128 of 167 Russian drones launched overnight. In Russia's Belgorod region, Ukrainian attacks killed two people.
Zelensky linked recent Russian strikes on Kyiv's airports to preparations for the U.S. delegation's visit, calling it a deliberate warning.
Putin also thanked Trump for his continued peace efforts with calling the situation in Ukraine "not simple." Ushakov noted that economic cooperation and potential joint U.S.-Russia projects were also discussed. However, Moscow reaffirmed its firm stance that Ukraine must cede four claimed regions and abandon NATO membership plans terms Kyiv continues to reject as unacceptable.
With both sides still far apart also the war the deadliest in Europe since World War Two shows no signs of ending soon.
