US–Russia Talks End Without Compromise on Territorial Dispute

High-level discussions between the United States and Russia aimed at ending the war in Ukraine delivered no breakthrough on Tuesday, with the Kremlin confirming that “no compromise” had yet been reached regarding contested territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin, shortly after indicating that Russian forces were prepared to continue fighting to achieve Moscow’s initial military objectives.

The meeting marked a pivotal moment for Ukraine during what is expected to be a tense week following several days of intense diplomatic activity. Central to this is a revised US peace plan, updated after pressure from Kyiv and its European allies.

On the issue of occupied Ukrainian regions, top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov stated: “So far we haven’t found a compromise, but some American solutions can be discussed.” He added that “some proposed formulations do not fit us, and work will continue”.

Trump acknowledged the complexity of the effort to halt the nearly four-year-long conflict.
“Our people are over in Russia right now to see if we can get it settled,” he noted during a cabinet meeting at the White House. “Not an easy situation, let me tell you. What a mess.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that any peace proposal must end the conflict permanently, rather than simply pause hostilities that began with Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
He stressed in a social media post: “There will be no simple solutions. What matters is that everything is fair and transparent. That there are no games played behind Ukraine’s back. That nothing is decided without Ukraine — about us, about our future.”

Moscow rejects amended plan

Kushner and Witkoff travelled to Moscow to present Putin with the updated version of the US plan, following concerns that the earlier draft included excessive concessions to Moscow.

Ushakov explained that the initial proposal consisted of four sections, all of which were addressed during the five-hour Kremlin meeting.
“There were some points we could agree on,” he said, but added that “the president did not hide our critical, even negative, stance on a number of proposals”.

Putin has insisted that Kyiv must cede the territories claimed by Moscow, and the Kremlin has rejected the presence of any European monitoring force in Ukraine as part of a truce.

In his social media message, Zelensky acknowledged that “the most difficult questions are about territories, about frozen (Russian) assets… and about security guarantees”.

Despite the disagreements, Ushakov described the talks as “useful”, noting that the positions of Russia and the United States had not drifted further apart.

Russian pressure

Putin appeared to send a hardline signal shortly before the talks, claiming that Pokrovsk — an eastern Ukrainian stronghold Russia says it recently captured — provides a “good foothold for solving all the tasks set at the beginning of the special military operation”.

Kyiv is meanwhile under strain on multiple fronts.
Russian troops made rapid gains in eastern Ukraine in November, and the Ukrainian government has been shaken by corruption scandals culminating in the resignation of its chief negotiator — a close ally of Zelensky.

Moscow has also intensified its drone and missile attacks, leaving large numbers of Ukrainians without electricity or heating. Zelensky accused Russia of attempting to “break” the country.

Putin, for his part, accused Europe of undermining a potential settlement and issued a stark warning: “We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now.”

Zelensky has said he intends to discuss the key issues directly with the US president and suggested that Moscow’s underlying motive in engaging with Washington may be to ease Western sanctions.

Kushner included

European governments fear that Washington and Moscow could strike an agreement that ignores their concerns or forces Ukraine into accepting unfavourable concessions.

The original 28-point US plan, leaked last month, aligned so closely with Russia’s demands that it prompted speculation Moscow had helped draft it — a claim Washington firmly denied.

Bloomberg later reported on an audio recording in which Witkoff appeared to coach Russian officials on how Putin should present his proposal to Trump.

Witkoff has met Putin on multiple occasions, but US media noted that this was the first instance in which Kushner — who also helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas earlier this year — joined the talks.

Khaborwala/SS