Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin meets Trump envoys late into night ahead of first trilateral peace talks

Vladimir Putin pulled an all-nighter, sitting down with US envoys for a meeting that stretched on for nearly four hours.

The US delegation included US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who last met Putin in the Kremlin in early December and Josh Gruenbaum, newly appointed as a senior adviser to Trump’s Board of Peace, tasked with addressing global conflicts.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov says Putin has underlined that Russia was “sincerely interested” in a diplomatic solution.

But he stressed that there was no hope of achieving long-term settlement without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage.

He added: “Until this is achieved, Russia will continue to consistently pursue the objectives of the special military operation. This is especially true on the battlefield, where the Russian armed forces hold the strategic initiative.”

This significant development was announced by the newly appointed Defence Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov.

Mr Fedorov, who recently transitioned from his role as digitalisation minister to spearhead reforms across Ukraine’s vast defence ministry and armed forces, has described Kyiv’s wartime data trove as a crucial “card” in its ongoing negotiations with other nations.

Ahead of three-way security talks in Abu Dhabi, Vladimir Putin and three US envoys held a meeting that began shortly before midnight and lasted nearly four hours.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters the talks had been useful and extremely frank.

However, it ended without any breakthrough.

He said Russian Admiral Igor Kostyukov would head Moscow’s team at the three-way security talks, and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev would meet separately on economic issues with Steve Witkoff, the envoy of President Donald Trump.

But while outlining the next steps, Ushakov stopped short of hailing any major breakthrough.

“Most importantly, during these talks between our president and the Americans, it was reiterated that without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage, there is no hope of achieving a long-term settlement,” he said, referring to last year’s Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.

Ushakov said Putin underlined that Russia was “sincerely interested” in a diplomatic solution.

He added, however: “Until this is achieved, Russia will continue to consistently pursue the objectives of the special military operation. This is especially true on the battlefield, where the Russian armed forces hold the strategic initiative.”

Putin, Ushakov and Dmitriev took part in the talks on the Russian side.

On the US side, Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who last met Putin in the Kremlin in early December, were accompanied by Josh Gruenbaum, newly appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to his Board of Peace, which will seek to tackle world conflicts.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised his European allies for what he portrayed as the continent’s slow and inadequate response to Russia’s invasion nearly four years ago and its continued international aggression.

Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Zelensky listed a litany of grievances and criticisms of Europe that he said have left Ukraine at the mercy of Russian President Vladimir Putin amid an ongoing US push for a peace settlement.

“Europe looks lost,” Mr Zelenskyy said in his speech, urging the continent to become a global force. He contrasted Europe’s response with Washington’s bold steps in Venezuela and Iran.

The former comic actor referred to the movie Groundhog Day, in which the main character must relive the same day over and over again.

“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words: Europe needs to know how to defend itself. A year has passed. And nothing has changed. We are still in a situation where I must say the same words again,” Mr Zelensky said.

He said that Ukrainians too seem caught in that reality in the war, “repeating the same thing for weeks, months and, of course, for years. And yet that is exactly how we live now. It’s our life.”

“This war has become a complete strategic failure for Vladimir Putin,” Mr Stubb said. “He expanded Nato, he made Ukraine European, and he forced European states to increase their defence budgets. And now we are asking ourselves whether we are capable of defending ourselves. My answer is yes.”

The Trump administration is pushing for a peace settlement, with its envoys shuttling between Kyiv and Moscow. Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow late on Thursday and sat down for more talks with Mr Putin, the Kremlin said.

One major issue remains to be resolved in negotiations, Mr Witkoff said at Davos, without saying what it was. Mr Zelensky said the future status of Ukrainian land currently occupied by Russia is unresolved but that peace proposals are “nearly ready”.

Post-war security guarantees, should a deal be reached, are agreed between the US and Ukraine, although they would require each country’s ratification, he said.

Mr Zelensky said there would be two days of trilateral meetings involving the US, Ukraine and Russia due to begin in the United Arab Emirates on Friday.

“Russians have to be ready for compromises because, you know, everybody has to be ready, not only Ukraine, and this is important for us,” he said

President Trump on Thursday gave a window into his ongoing thinking about efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, the president claimed Vladimir Putin will “make concessions” to speed along the peace process, which will unfold at a trilateral meeting involving the U.S. in the United Arab Emirates this weekend and Trump official Steve Witkoff meeting with the Russian leader in Moscow.

“He’ll make concessions,” Trump said of Putin. “Everybody’s making concessions to get it done. Europe is going to be a part of it…Look, it’s more for Europe than for me.”

The president added that he wants to stop the loss of innocent lives but doesn’t think the war in Ukraine impacts the U.S. very much.

“It doesn’t affect us very much, other than the loss of lives, we’re not affected by this,” Trump said. “It’s thousands of miles away. We’re separated by an ocean. But I have an ability to get things done like this, and we’ll see if I can get it done.”

The Republican added that Putin may want all of Ukraine’s territory, but “he’s not gonna be going there unless we don’t make a deal.”