Trump says Witkoff, Kushner had ‘reasonably good meeting’ with Putin despite no breakthrough

President Donald Trump on Wednesday stated U.S. Particular Envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner had a “fairly good assembly” with Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout high-stakes negotiations in Moscow, including that the U.S. negotiators believed Putin “wish to finish the warfare.”

“I do not know what the Kremlin is doing. I can let you know that they’d a fairly good assembly with President Putin. We will discover out. It is a warfare that ought to have by no means been began,” Trump instructed reporters within the Oval Workplace. 

Trump stated he spoke with Witkoff and Kushner Tuesday evening following their assembly on the Kremlin. 

“What comes out of that assembly? I am unable to let you know, as a result of it does take two to tango,” Trump stated. 

“He wish to finish the warfare,” Trump stated of Putin. “That was their impression. Now, whether or not or not that was their impression, their impression was that they’d prefer to see he wish to see the warfare ended.”

“I feel he’d prefer to get again to dealing a extra regular life. I feel he’d prefer to be buying and selling with america of America, frankly, as an alternative of, , shedding hundreds of troopers per week. However their impression was very strongly that he’d prefer to make a deal,” Trump stated of Putin. 

Witkoff and Kushner have invited Ukrainian Nationwide Safety and Protection Council Secretary Rustem Umerov to Miami on Thursday for additional peace talks, in accordance with a senior U.S. administration official.

Witkoff and Kushner carried out marathon talks with Putin to deliver concerning the finish of the practically four-year Russian invasion of Ukraine, however no instant breakthroughs have been introduced by both facet.

Although each side within the negotiations — led by Witkoff and Kushner from the U.S. — and Putin who carried out negotiations in Moscow — vowed secrecy and offered no complete briefings of their dialogue, it grew to become clear {that a} deal for peace was not but in hand as Trump has lengthy desired.

“Thus far no compromise possibility has been discovered, however some American proposals seem roughly acceptable,” stated Putin’s prime international coverage aide, Yuri Ushakov, who was within the room for the Moscow assembly and spoke to Russian media afterward. “The president didn’t conceal our vital or detrimental view of sure proposals.”

“We agreed on some issues … whereas others induced criticism, and the president [Putin] additionally made no secret of our vital, even detrimental, perspective towards numerous proposals. However the principle factor is that we had a really helpful dialogue,” Ushakov stated.

It is unclear which peace plan was introduced to the Russians after particulars of an preliminary 28-point plan have been introduced to Ukraine final month. Kyiv and its European allies labored shortly to amend all the way down to a 19-point plan.

Not one of the events concerned within the negotiations this week has detailed the present model of the proposal.

Following the high-profile assembly between Witkoff, Kushner and Putin — through which the U.S. delegation introduced Putin with 4 paperwork outlining Washington’s plan — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated negotiators from Kyiv would meet with European leaders in Brussels on Wednesday to debate the result of the Kremlin assembly.

He added that senior negotiator Umerov and armed forces chief Andrii Hnatov would then put together for conferences with the U.S. envoys.

Geopolitical consultants consider the essence of the whole Ukraine-Russia peace plan now hinges on two details: territory concessions and safety ensures.

Main hangups on a peace deal stay

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was not a part of the American delegation despatched to Moscow, stated late Tuesday that “some progress” had been made on the truce proposal, however “we’re nonetheless not there — we’re nonetheless not shut sufficient.”

He harassed that “solely Putin can finish this warfare on the Russian facet.”

He additionally highlighted a serious sticking level within the peace deal: Moscow’s continued demand that Ukrainian forces withdraw from the whole Donbas area. Ukraine has lengthy rejected ceding territory to Russia.

“What they’re actually combating over now could be a few 30-to-50 kilometer area and the 20% of the Donetsk area that continues to be,” Rubio stated on Fox Information. “And so, what we now have tried to do — and I feel have made some progress — is work out what may the Ukrainians reside with that provides them safety ensures for the longer term they’re by no means going to be invaded once more.”

Rubio additional outlined that the peace plan also needs to handle Ukraine’s long-term sovereignty and independence “in order that they do not develop into a puppet state” whereas additionally permitting for Ukraine’s financial system to get better and prosper.

“That is what we’re attempting to attain right here,” Rubio stated.

John Hardie, Russia Program Deputy Director on the Basis for Protection of Democracies, stated that if the Kremlin refuses to return to the bargaining desk, a peace deal will stay elusive.

“The Kremlin stays unwilling to make the compromises crucial for a settlement Kyiv can reside with. Till that modifications, President Trump’s diplomatic efforts are unlikely to supply a deal, not to mention one which protects U.S. and Ukrainian pursuits,” Hardie instructed ABC Information. “Washington must work with its allies and Ukraine to maximise army, financial, and diplomatic strain on Moscow.”

However Rubio harassed in his tv interview that it is as much as each Ukraine and Russia to settle their variations to succeed in a sturdy and lasting peace.

“And on the finish of the day, it is less than us.  It is not our warfare.  We’re not combating it; there aren’t American troopers.  It is on one other continent.  We’re engaged as a result of we’re the one ones that may,” he stated. “The one chief on the planet that may speak to each side and make a deal, if a deal is feasible, is President Trump.  And he is been very affected person.  He is devoted lots of time to it.”

“In the end, it is going to be as much as them. In the event that they resolve they do not need to finish the warfare, then the warfare will proceed,” he added.

Michael Froman, president of the Council on International Relations, stated it was in Putin’s “curiosity simply to maintain the method going, to have a protracted strategy of diplomatic engagement.”

“He desires to have a broader dialog about Russia’s reintegration with the West and relations with america, industrial agreements with america, and to make this lengthy and drawn out whereas he continues to bomb Ukraine’s vitality infrastructure and makes incremental progress on the bottom,” Froman stated throughout a televised interview Tuesday.

ABC Information’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.