Key Points
- US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at peace talks in Moscow.
- The initial US plan drew strong criticism from Ukraine and European allies for appearing too favourable to Russia.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists any agreement must end the war completely and not merely pause hostilities.
Top US negotiators vying to end the war in Ukraine met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a high-stakes meeting happening as Moscow pressed battlefield advances.
Putin, who received Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and US special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin, signalled earlier that his forces were ready to fight on to achieve Russia's initial war goals.
Just before the meeting, Putin warned Europe that it would face swift defeat if it went to war with Russia, and he dismissed European counter-proposals on Ukraine as being absolutely unacceptable to Russia.
"They are on the side of war," Putin said of the European powers.
"We can clearly see that all these changes are aimed at only one thing: to block the entire peace process altogether, to make such demands which are absolutely unacceptable to Russia."
Putin said Russia did not want war with Europe, but that if Europe started one, it would end so swiftly that there would be no one left for Russia to negotiate with.
The meeting is a crucial moment for Ukraine in what could be a fraught week following days of frantic diplomacy kicked off by a unilateral US plan to bring peace, which has since been revised under pressure from Ukraine and its European backers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that any plan must actually end the war for good, and not just lead to a pause in the fighting that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
The Trump administration has said it is "optimistic" it can help end Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.
Kushner and Witkoff were to present Putin with the new version of US plan, which has been hammered out after the initial version raised fears in Ukraine that it made too many concessions to Moscow.
After their Moscow visit, Kushner and Witkoff could go on to meet a Ukrainian delegation as soon as Wednesday, potentially in Brussels, a senior Ukraine official told AFP.
The US wanted to give an update "directly to us after their meeting", Zelenskyy said during a visit to Ireland, where he was shoring up European support.
"Our common task is to end the war, not just to achieve a pause in hostilities," Zelenskyy said, adding: "A dignified peace is needed."
Putin, however, appeared to send a hawkish message shortly before the US talks began.
He said that Pokrovsk, an east Ukrainian stronghold recently claimed by Russian forces, was a "good foothold for solving all the tasks set at the beginning of the special military operation", using Russia’s term for the nearly four-year-long war.
European powers are worried that the US and Russia could strike a deal over their heads or force Ukraine into making unfair concessions.
The original 28-point US plan revealed last month hewed so closely to Moscow's demands it prompted accusations that Russia was involved in drafting it, which the US denied.
Bloomberg last month reported on an audio recording showing that Witkoff helped coach Russian officials on how Putin should speak to Trump.
Zelenskyy has said he expects to discuss key issues with the US president, including on territory, and suggested Russia’s real motivation for the US talks was to ease Western sanctions.
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