US President Donald Trump said that the meeting between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow went very well, and warned Ukraine about the deterioration of the terms of the agreement.
„President Putin had a very good meeting yesterday with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff“, Trump said during an event at the White House.
According to the American leader, after the talks, Witkoff and Kushner expressed confidence in Moscow's desire to end the war.
He admitted that he was not able to predict the outcome of the meeting in the Kremlin.
„What will come out of this meeting? I can't tell you because it takes two to tango.“
Trump expressed the opinion that the conditions for resolving the conflict in Ukraine have significantly worsened for Kiev after his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky.
„You know, when I was in this office, I talked about the lack of trump cards. I told Zelensky that they had no cards. Then it was necessary to negotiate. It was a much better time to negotiate, but they decided not to do it. A lot of things are against him now.“
The American leader added that, against his advice, Zelensky decided not to do this.
Trump reiterated that the US is no longer spending money on aid to Ukraine and that the country has been "robbed" under former President Joe Biden.
Reuters reported that Witkoff and Kushner had previously briefed Trump on the results of their talks with Putin, describing them as “substantial and productive“. They have also briefed the Ukrainian side on the results.
Putin received Witkoff and Kushner at the Kremlin on Tuesday. The parties discussed the substance of the US peace plan for about five hours, but failed to find a compromise. They agreed to continue working and not disclose the content of their conversation.
Before traveling to Moscow, the US delegation met with Ukrainian representatives.
According to foreign media, during the talks in Florida, the parties discussed territorial exchanges, security guarantees and the inability of Ukraine to join NATO. They were reportedly unable to reach final decisions on all issues.
According to media reports, after their talks with Putin, US negotiators had planned to travel to a European country to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, but it was later reported that Zelensky had canceled the summit. The Ukrainian president announced on Wednesday that he was preparing a new meeting for the delegation with Trump's representatives.
In late November, the White House announced the development of a proposal for a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. According to media reports, the plan includes the transfer of territory in the Donbass under Moscow's control, the official recognition of Donbass and Crimea as Russian territories, the freezing of most of the line of contact in Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, a halving of the size of the Ukrainian armed forces, and a ban on the deployment of foreign troops and weapons capable of striking deep into Russia.
Later, the US delegation met with representatives of the EU and Kiev in Geneva. They proposed amendments to the document. Versions of their revised plan were published by foreign media, and Moscow called them "unacceptable". As Putin noted, the initial US peace plan could serve as the basis for future agreements, but before that, each point must be carefully worked out.