Witkoff, Kushner hold 'constructive' talks with Putin on ending Ukraine war

by · UPI

Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on Ukraine lasting five hours on Tuesday in Moscow with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, amid a renewed push by the White House to end the war.

Witkoff brought with him a revised version of a 28-point peace plan first floated by Trump in the middle of November, criticized as being strongly weighted in Moscow's favor. The revised plan was drawn up by U.S. officials in consultation with Ukraine and European diplomats.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin's top foreign policy aide, told reporters following the meeting that the document contained 27 points, not 28, and that the meeting was an "opportunity" to talk about "prospects" for further work toward ending the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

"The conversation was very useful, constructive and substantive," he said.

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Specifics of the proposal were not discussed, he said, emphasizing that they talked about "the essence of what is embedded in these American documents."

"In some areas we were able to agree, and the president confirmed this to his interlocutors. In other areas, we had criticism, and the president did not conceal our critical -- and in some cases negative -- attitude toward a number of proposals."

A non-starter for Ukraine has been the prospect of ceding some of its land to Russia, which Moscow is demanding. Ushakov said the topic was discussed, but the issue remained at an impasse.

"We do not see a resolution to the crisis," he said, adding that the issue of land was "the most important one for us."

Russia, however, appeared to agree with other points in the U.S. plan, though Ushakov did not specify which ones.

"Overall, it was a very useful and good conversation," he said.

No plans have been made for a Trump-Putin meeting, but it appeared that Russia was amenable to further talks with Witkoff and Kushner.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said earlier Tuesday that the summit would continue for "as long as necessary." But with mounting progress on the frontline of the war in recent days, Moscow has been openly signaling it believes it will succeed with or without a deal.

The Kremlin visit, Witkoff's sixth in 10 months, came after U.S.-Ukrainian negotiations over the weekend in Miami ended inconclusively, with the parties saying they had gone well but that more work was needed to resolve outstanding issues.

Encouraged by Russian forces' progress on the battlefield, including claims made Monday by Moscow to have taken the key Ukrainian cities of Pokrovsk in Donetsk and Vovchansk in Kharkiv after year-long sieges, Putin has made it clear he is not prepared to soften his demands and Trump and his team will need to apply more pressure on Ukraine.

Putin has also capitalized on a corruption scandal embroiling Ukrainian officials, some very close to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Those include his lead negotiator, Andriy Yermak, who was forced to resign Friday.

Russia's maximalist demands require Ukraine to hand over occupied territory in its eastern Donbas region, the removal of any path to NATO membership and shrinking the size of its military. The Kremlin is also demanding Ukraine's disputed areas to succumb Russia's sphere of influence in disputed areas by adopting its language, culture and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Experts had set low expectations for the Witkoff-Kushner mission.

"The main expectations likely boil down to maintaining a high-level communication channel during this crisis period. This in itself considered important for avoiding dangerous escalation," said political analyst Ilya Grashchenkov.

As recently as last week, Putin responded to the latest initiative by telling reporters that the war would end when Ukrainian troops pulled out of the territories they occupied, threatening that if they did not do so, Russia would remove them by force.

On a heavily publicized visit to the frontline on Sunday, Putin again showed little sign he was about to embark on peace talks, attacking the "criminal policies" of Zelensky's administration, which he said was a "thieving junta" that had seized power illegitimately.

Grashchenkov said that Russia's mounting economic woes might force Putin's hand further down the line. But Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior analyst with the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center senior analyst said Putin was banking on Ukraine losing Western support as it continued to lose territory in the conflict.