Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which started in February 2022.
US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin for three hours in Moscow to discuss US efforts to end the Ukraine war, and the Kremlin said the two sides’ positions had moved closer.
Witkoff has emerged as Washington’s key interlocutor with Putin as Trump pushes for a deal to end the war, now well into its fourth year, and has already had three lengthy meetings with the Kremlin leader.
On Thursday, video published by Russian state media showed Witkoff meeting Putin at the Kremlin, with the two smiling, shaking hands and exchanging a few words in English before beginning talks.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who took part in the meeting with Witkoff on Friday, described the three-hour meeting as constructive and very useful.
“This conversation allowed Russia and the United States to further bring their positions closer together, not only on Ukraine but also on a number of other international issues,” he told reporters.
“As for the Ukrainian crisis itself, the discussion focused in particular on the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine.”
Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which started when Putin ordered a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Witkoff and the White House have not yet commented on the outcome of the meeting.
His latest trip follows talks this week at which Ukrainian and European officials pushed back against some of the US proposals for how to settle Russia’s war in Ukraine, the deadliest in Europe since World War II.
Trump has threatened to walk away from talks if he does not see progress towards a ceasefire.
On Thursday, after Russian attacks on Kyiv killed 12 people, Trump wrote on social media: “Vladimir, STOP!”, adding “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
When asked how he would respond if Russia did not accept a deal, Trump said Thursday, “I won’t be happy, let me put it that way. Things will happen.”
Russia, which has warned against rushing into a peace settlement, said Thursday it was “ready to reach a deal” but needed certain issues addressed first.
“There are still some specific points … which need to be fine-tuned, and we are busy with this,” its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told CBS News.
The United States has suggested freezing the front line and accepting Russian control of Crimea, a peninsula annexed by the Kremlin in 2014, in exchange for peace.
Trump was quoted in a TIME magazine interview published on Friday as saying, “Crimea will stay with Russia. And Zelenskyy understands that.”
Ukraine has rejected ceding ground to Moscow, and says it will not accept Russian control of Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has in recent months accepted that he might have to try to secure the return of some land captured by Russia through diplomacy once a ceasefire is in place.
