US negotiators meet Vladimir Putin for high-stakes Ukraine talks

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff shake hands during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow. Photo / AFP

Top US negotiators including Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow for talks on a US-drafted plan to end the Ukraine war, just as Kyiv announced it had agreed on post-war security guarantees with Washington.

Diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have gained pace in recent months, though both Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement.

US special envoy Witkoff said earlier he believed the two sides were “down to one issue”, without elaborating.

Video published by the Kremlin showed a smiling Putin shaking hands with Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum.

Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov took part on the Russian side, the Kremlin said.

The high-stakes meeting came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a draft deal was “nearly, nearly ready” and that he and Trump had agreed on the issue of post-war security guarantees.

Russia, which occupies around 20% of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal.

But Kyiv has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow and says it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from launching a renewed assault.

After meeting Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskyy said the security guarantees were “done”, speaking in English to journalists. He said the UK and France had already committed to forces on the ground.

Europe ‘fragmented’

Neither Witkoff nor Kushner will stay in the Russian capital overnight, instead flying straight to Abu Dhabi, where talks will continue in “military to military” working groups, Witkoff said.

The details of the upcoming talks in the United Arab Emirates have not been released, and it is not clear whether Russian and Ukrainian officials will meet face-to-face.

Zelenskyy said these talks would last two days.

Trump repeated his oft-stated belief that Putin and Zelenskyy were close to a deal.

“I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they don’t, they’re stupid – that goes for both of them,” he said after delivering a speech at Davos.

Zelenskyy, at his address in Davos, blasted the EU’s lack of “political will” in countering Putin in a fiery address.

“Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” he said.

Trump’s dramatic foreign policy pivots including a recent bid to take over Greenland – an autonomous Danish territory – have stirred worries in Europe about whether Washington can be trusted as a reliable security partner.

Zelenskyy in his speech criticised Europe for pinning their hopes on the United States defending them in case of aggression.

“Europe looks lost trying to convince the US President to change,” Zelenskyy said.

Russian strikes this week have left most of Kyiv without electricity, with residents of 4000 buildings without heat in sub-zero temperatures.

Russia, which launched its Ukraine offensive in February 2022, says its strikes are aimed at energy infrastructure fuelling Ukraine’s “military-industrial complex”.

Kyiv says the strikes are a war crime designed to wear down its civilian population into submission.

-Agence France-Presse