Russian President Vladimir Putin (third from right), Advisor to the Russian President on Foreign Policy Yuri Ushakov (fourth from right) and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries Kirill Dmitriev (right) attend negotiations with US Special Representative Steve Witkov (second from left) and President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (third) at the Kremlin Senate Palace in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, December 2.
Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
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Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin said some proposals in a U.S. plan to end the war in Ukraine were unacceptable to the Kremlin, saying in comments published Thursday that an agreement was still a long way off.
US President Donald Trump has launched the most intense diplomatic push to stop the fighting since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor nearly four years ago. But these efforts have again run up against demands that are difficult to reconcile, especially over whether Ukraine should give up land to Russia and how it can be protected from any future aggression from Moscow.
Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are set to meet with Ukraine's lead negotiator Rustem Umerov later Thursday in Miami for further talks, said a senior Trump administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Putin said his five-hour talks on Tuesday in the Kremlin with Vitkov and Kushner were “necessary” and “useful” but also “difficult work” and some proposals were unacceptable.
Putin spoke to India Today TV before landing in New Delhi on Thursday for a state visit. Before broadcasting the full interview, Russian state news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti quoted some of his remarks.
TASS quoted Putin as saying that at Tuesday's talks the sides “had to discuss every point” of the US peace proposal, “which is why they took so long.”
“This was a necessary conversation, very specific,” he said, with provisions that Moscow is ready to discuss, but with others “we cannot agree.”
Trump said Wednesday that Witkoff and Kushner returned from the marathon session with confidence that he wants to end the war. “They had a very strong impression that he wanted to do a deal,” he added.
Putin declined to specify what Russia might accept or reject, and none of the other officials involved would provide details of the negotiations.
“I think this is premature. Because it could simply disrupt the working order” of peace efforts, TASS quoted Putin as saying.
European leaders, left on the sidelines by Washington while U.S. officials deal directly with Moscow and Kiev, accused Putin of feigning interest in Trump's peace campaign.
French President Emmanuel Macron met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, seeking to engage him in pressuring Russia for a ceasefire. Xi Jinping, whose country has provided strong diplomatic support to Putin, did not say he was responding to France's call but said that “China supports all efforts to achieve peace.”
Russian shelling of civilian areas of Ukraine continued throughout the night of Thursday. According to the head of the city administration, Alexander Vilkul, a rocket hit Krivoy Rog on Wednesday evening, injuring six people, including a three-year-old girl.
As a result of the attack on the hometown of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, more than 40 residential buildings, a school and domestic gas pipelines were damaged, Vilkul said.
A six-year-old girl died in the southern city of Kherson after she was wounded by Russian artillery fire the day before, the head of the regional military administration, Alexander Prokudin, wrote on Telegram.
The Kherson thermal power plant, which supplies heat to more than 40,000 residents, shut down on Thursday after Russia bombarded it with drones and artillery for days, he said.
Authorities have scheduled emergency meetings to find alternative heating sources, he said. Before this, tents were set up throughout the city where residents could stay warm and charge their electronic devices.
Russia also carried out a drone strike in Odessa, wounding six people and damaging civilian and energy infrastructure, said the head of the regional military administration, Oleg Kiper.
In total, Russia fired two ballistic missiles and 138 drones into Ukraine overnight, officials said.
Meanwhile, in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region, two men were killed when a Ukrainian drone struck their car on Thursday, Moscow-appointed regional leader Vladimir Saldo said. A 68-year-old woman was also wounded in the attack, he said.
