Putin’s Kremlin Meeting With Trump Envoys Puts Ukraine Talks and European Security in Focus

Putin’s Kremlin Meeting With Trump Envoys Puts Ukraine Talks and European Security in Focus
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin after arriving in Moscow from Abu Dhabi, where Russian, American and Ukrainian delegations had held trilateral contacts. The meeting lasted more than two hours.

The talks followed what Witkoff described as a positive atmosphere in Abu Dhabi. He said the Russian and Ukrainian delegations had worked effectively and pointed to a planned prisoner exchange as evidence of progress. Witkoff also said he would brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the Moscow meeting, while European governments had been informed of the results even though they were not at the negotiating table.

According to the Russian account, Putin thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for organizing contacts between Moscow and Kyiv and credited first lady Melania Trump with involvement in humanitarian efforts concerning the Ukrainian city of Oleshky. Putin proposed a humanitarian mission in Konstantinovka modeled on an earlier initiative in Oleshky, where a local ceasefire was reached in late October.

The meeting also widened the agenda beyond immediate humanitarian matters. Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said European security architecture would be a central topic, while Kushner said the United States had begun discussions with European countries about the continent’s security framework. He said Washington hoped the talks would address both an end to the war and possible paths to peace.

The envoys were expected to travel to Kyiv after Moscow. The Russian side was represented by presidential aides Yuri Ushakov and Medinsky, along with Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Putin’s representative for investment and economic cooperation.