The Kremlin said on Wednesday that its army’s recent battlefield successes in Ukraine had strengthened its position in talks to end the fighting, as both Moscow and Kyiv prepared for further negotiations with the United States.
US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son Jared Kushner negotiated in the early hours with Vladimir Putin – but no progress on a peace deal was announced.
The Kremlin said that no “compromise” was found on the crucial issue of territories and that Ukraine’s participation in NATO remained a “key” issue in the talks.
The White House had previously expressed optimism about its plan to end Europe’s worst conflict since the Second World War but that hope appeared to fade on Wednesday – with Moscow saying it found parts of the plan “unacceptable”.
Witkoff and Kushner brought an updated version of the US plan to end the war.
Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine picked up pace last month and Putin said in recent days Moscow is ready to fight over it to capture the rest of the land it claims if Kyiv does not give it up.
“The progress and nature of the negotiations were influenced by the successes of the Russian army on the battlefield in recent weeks,” said Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov – who took part in the talks between the United States and Russia – to reporters including AFP.
“Our Russian soldiers, through their military exploits, helped to make the assessments of our foreign partners regarding the paths to a peace agreement more appropriate,” he added.
Moscow has insisted that it is incorrect to say that Putin rejected the plan in its entirety.
He also said that Russia is still committed to diplomacy – even though the Russian leader issued a strong warning that Moscow was “ready” to fight Europe if it wants war.
“We are still ready to meet as often as necessary to reach a peace agreement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
But Germany said that Putin’s rhetoric was “aggressive” and said that “at the moment it does not see any sign that Russia is switching to the way of negotiation”.
– Ukraine’s role in the NATO “key” in the talks –
Moscow went to war in Ukraine in February 2022, saying it wanted to prevent Kyiv from joining NATO – a prospect that Ukraine and the Western alliance called an excuse to start fighting and which they said would not happen.
Since the full-scale offensive, Kyiv has said membership in the Western alliance would protect it from future Russian attacks.
Trump has repeatedly ruled out Ukraine’s membership in the bloc.
Ushakov said the issue was “key” in the talks.
The Russian official said that the US envoys would “take into account” Moscow’s “considerations” and our main proposals – without elaborating on what they were.
Trump — who has expressed frustration with both Moscow and Kiev for not finding a solution to the conflict — has yet to comment on the outcome of the talks.
– Ukraine will have talks with the EU, the United States –
As the Americans returned from Moscow, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky announced that his top negotiator Rustem Umerov and army chief Andriy Gnatov were heading to Brussels, where NATO foreign ministers were to discuss Washington’s push to end the fighting.
Umerov and Gnatov will also travel to the United States to meet Trump’s envoys, Zelensky said on social media.
Zelensky said any peace deal to the conflict must ensure Moscow does not attack again.
The new talks come as NATO has pledged to buy hundreds of millions of dollars in US arms for Kyiv.
– “Keep up the fight” –
The head of NATO Mark Rutte said that it is positive that the peace talks are still ongoing but that the alliance must ensure that “Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to continue the fight.”
European countries have expressed fear that Washington and Moscow will reach an agreement without them, and have spent the last few weeks trying to amend the US plan so as not to force Kyiv to capitulate.
In Moscow, tensions with Europe were palpable, with Putin delivering an exceptionally harsh statement on Tuesday.
“We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” he said.
His spokesman on Wednesday accused Europe of being “obsessed with inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia”.
Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, which killed thousands, was also accompanied by a crackdown on dissent at home not seen since the Soviet era.
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