Moscow confirmed Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin has agreed to certain elements of Washington’s peace plan for Ukraine while rejecting others, signaling that Russia is prepared to keep meeting with U.S. negotiators until a settlement can be reached.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that President Putin’s talks in Moscow with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner lasted into the early hours of Wednesday and marked the first direct exchange on Washington’s latest peace framework.
Asked whether Putin had rejected the American proposals, Peskov clarified that it would be inaccurate to describe the meeting that way. “A direct exchange of views took place yesterday for the first time,” he said. “Some things were accepted, some things were marked as unacceptable — this is a normal working process of finding a compromise.”
Peskov noted that Russia appreciated President Donald Trump’s personal involvement in promoting dialogue, but cautioned that the Kremlin would not provide ongoing updates, saying “publicity was unlikely to be constructive.” He explained that negotiations had moved to a technical phase: “Work is currently being carried out at a working expert level. It is at the expert level that certain results should be achieved that will then become the basis for contacts at the highest level.”
The latest round of diplomacy followed a November leak of 28 U.S. draft peace proposals, which reportedly alarmed both Ukrainian and European officials. Those documents were criticized for appearing to accommodate several of Moscow’s core demands. In response, European powers prepared a counter-proposal, while the U.S. and Ukraine said during follow-up talks in Geneva that they had produced an “updated and refined peace framework.”
Putin said Tuesday that certain European suggestions were “absolutely unacceptable” to Russia and accused Western capitals of trying to derail progress. His foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters that Moscow had initially received a 27-point set of U.S. proposals, followed by four supplementary documents discussed directly with Witkoff.
Putin has previously stated that the U.S. and Ukraine divided their proposals into four main sections, though the full contents have not been made public. Despite acknowledging that “compromises have not yet been found,” both sides signaled their willingness to continue discussions in pursuit of an eventual ceasefire and negotiated settlement.
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