The high-stakes, five-hour meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the US delegation led by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner concluded late yesterday without achieving a breakthrough on a peace deal for the nearly four-year-long war in Ukraine.
The latest update confirms that while the dialogue was productive, the core issue of territorial concessions by Ukraine remains the non-negotiable roadblock, leaving the peace process “neither further nor closer to resolving the crisis.”
Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, who participated in the marathon session at the Kremlin on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, provided the primary readout to the media.
Ushakov described the talks as “extremely useful, constructive, and substantive,” confirming that both sides had a detailed discussion on the outlook for a peaceful settlement.
Crucially, Ushakov stressed that “so far, a compromise hasn’t been found” on the issue of the four Ukrainian regions Russia partially seized and claims as its own. He emphasized that without resolving the territorial question, the Kremlin sees “no resolution to the crisis.”
The teams reviewed the revised US peace plan (which had been whittled down from 28 points to a smaller framework after discussions with Kyiv). Ushakov acknowledged that Russia “could agree with some things,” but that the Russian side had a “critical and even negative attitude toward a number of proposals.”
The talks unfolded under a cloud of escalating rhetoric from Moscow, which complicated the diplomatic mood.
Just hours before the meeting, President Putin issued a stark warning, accusing Kyiv’s European allies of sabotaging the US-led peace efforts by amending proposals with “demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia.” He went further, cautioning that Russia would be “ready for war” if Europe initiated one.
In Kyiv and Brussels, Ukrainian and European officials accused Putin of feigning interest in the talks, viewing his simultaneous war threats and territorial inflexibility as evidence that Moscow is not yet serious about genuine peace.
With no agreement reached, the US delegation departed Moscow and is expected to debrief President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously expressed cautious optimism, suggesting that “some progress” was being made on security guarantees for Ukraine’s future.
Ushakov confirmed that contacts would continue at the level of presidential aides, acknowledging that “there’s still a lot of work to be done, both in Washington and in Moscow.”
The immediate future of the peace initiative now rests on whether the Trump administration decides to exert pressure on Russia to move off its territorial demands or on Ukraine to accept a compromise.
