US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, April 25, discussed the "possibility" of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine during a meeting in Moscow, the Kremlin said. Donald Trump has been pushing for a ceasefire in the three-year conflict but has, so far, been unable to extract any meaningful concessions from Putin. Witkoff held a three-hour meeting with the Russian leader in the Kremlin, Moscow said, a day after a Russian strike killed 12 people in Kyiv, and as a car bomb killed a Russian general in an attack the Kremlin blamed on Ukraine.
"There was a discussion on the possibility of renewing direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said after he talks. Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks on halting the fighting since the start of Moscow's 2022 offensive. Lower-level officials have cooperated in areas such as prisoner exchanges, the return of dead soldiers' remains and to strike the now-defunct Black Sea grain deal in 2022. Ushakov also said the meeting brought the US and Russian positions on Ukraine "closer together." He called the conversation "constructive and very useful."
As Witkoff visited Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told US media CBS that Moscow was "ready to reach a deal" but that unnamed details needed to be addressed. "There are still some specific points (...) which need to be fine-tuned, and we are busy with this," Lavrov said.
In its push to end the war in Ukraine – which has so far yielded few results and frustrated Trump – the United States is holding talks with both sides separately. Kyiv and its European allies fear Moscow and Washington will strike an unfair deal for Ukraine.
Witkoff, a billionaire real estate investor and one of Trump's most trusted aides, is playing a key role in Washington's peace efforts, though he has made several comments that have infuriated Ukraine. Witkoff told Fox News earlier this month that a peace settlement hinged on the status of the "so-called five territories," drawing a sharp rebuke from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who accused the US envoy of "spreading Russian narratives."
Trump has threatened to walk away from talks if he does not see progress towards a ceasefire. On Thursday, after Russian attacks on Kyiv killed 12 people, Trump wrote on social media: "Vladimir, STOP!" He also added: "Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!"
Putin last month rejected a US proposal of a full and unconditional ceasefire that Zelensky has accepted and repeatedly called for since. Trump, who has been accused of favouring Russia and has repeatedly vilified Zelensky, said Thursday that the main concession Russia would make in any peace deal was "stopping taking the whole country." Moscow currently occupies around 20% of Ukraine and, in addition to Crimea – a peninsula annexed by the Kremlin in 2014 – has attempted to annex four other Ukrainian regions. When asked how he would respond if Russia did not accept a deal, Trump said Thursday: "I won't be happy, let me put it that way. Things will happen."
The United States has not revealed the details of its peace plan but has suggested freezing the front line and accepting Russian control of Crimea in exchange for peace. Trump was quoted as saying in a TIME magazine interview published on Friday: "Crimea will stay with Russia. And Zelensky understands that."
Ukraine has rejected ceding ground to Moscow, and says it will not accept Russian control of Crimea. Zelensky said, later on Friday, that Crimea belonged to Ukraine and that his position had not changed. "Our position is unchanged: only the Ukrainian people have the right to decide which territories are Ukrainian. The constitution of Ukraine says that all the temporarily occupied territories (...) belong to Ukraine, to the Ukrainian people," Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv.
"Ukraine will not legally recognise any temporarily occupied territories," he added. "This is not our property, not my property. This is the property of the Ukrainian people who exist today, who will be born for generations to come, who will contribute to the development of our country," he said, referring to territory, including Crimea, seized by Moscow.
Zelensky did, however, align with Trump on one point: "I agree with President Trump that Ukraine does not have enough weapons to regain control of the Crimean peninsula with weapons," he said.
Zelensky has expressed frustration at a lack of Western "pressure" on Putin, despite the United States warning of repercussions if Moscow refused a deal. "Any country that becomes a victim of aggression is never defending itself against a single entity but against a group of accomplices," he said.