Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will continue talks on resolving the conflict in Ukraine during a planned bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China. This was announced by Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian president.
The forum will be held on November 18 and 19 in Shenzhen. The Kremlin earlier said that a possible trilateral meeting between Putin, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was also under discussion, but it has not yet been officially confirmed.
The Talks with Witkoff and Kushner
Ushakov's statement followed Putin's meeting with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, held at the Kremlin on November 12. The talks lasted about two hours. Ushakov described them as „substantive, constructive and useful“.
According to the Russian official, the American negotiators supported Putin's proposal for a humanitarian mission in Konstantinovka. Russia is ready to begin demining the area immediately in order to implement the initiative. The claim that the American side supported the proposal was made by Ushakov and was not accompanied by a separate public statement from Witkoff or Kushner.
Moscow is ready to immediately begin talks with the United States on proposals concerning European security. Ushakov said that Russia had new ideas on the subject. However, he described plans to send a European contingent to Ukraine as „a recipe for endless war“.
The Exchange of Prisoners of War
The parameters of a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war were also discussed. Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement in principle on such an exchange during US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, but the exact number of people to be released has not yet been announced.
The US news agency Associated Press reported that the talks in Abu Dhabi did not result in a major breakthrough on the main disputed issues. These include territories occupied by Russia, future security guarantees and the role of European countries in a possible peace agreement.
After meeting with Putin, Witkoff and Kushner departed for Dublin, where they are expected to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The next possible political stage is talks between Putin and Trump in Shenzhen, if the planned meeting is officially confirmed.
Sources: apnews.com, tass.com