President Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday and came out with an agreement to keep talking. Witkoff said a new round of three-way talks between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine has been agreed, and that Europeans will join the next one, Reuters reported via The Moscow Times. No date has been set.
What they didn’t come out with is a deal on land, the issue that’s kept this war going. The two envoys were flying to Dublin on Thursday evening to brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
What did Putin and Trump’s envoys agree to?
Three things, based on what both sides said afterward. First, more talks. The U.S., Russia and Ukraine met in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday, their first direct talks in nine months, and they’ll meet again. Second, a prisoner swap agreed in Abu Dhabi, which Kushner called the largest of the war, is expected in the coming weeks.
Third, Putin proposed a joint Russian-Ukrainian humanitarian mission to Kostiantynivka, a city in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, modeled on one that let residents leave the Russian-held town of Oleshky last month. Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov said the Americans supported the idea. Ukraine’s response so far is that all the details still need to be worked out.
“I believe this is an indication that we are making progress in resolving this conflict,” Witkoff said, according to Russian state media. Ushakov said Putin and Trump will keep discussing Ukraine when they meet at the APEC summit in China later this month.
Why is Donbas still the sticking point?
Putin wants all of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, including parts his army hasn’t taken. Zelensky has refused. Kushner admitted before the trip that territory remains “the most difficult part” and that “significant differences remain.” One of Putin’s negotiators, Vladimir Medinsky, has put Russia’s view bluntly: “wherever the foot of our Russian soldier has stepped, that is ours.”
Zelensky isn’t expecting much. He said Wednesday he was skeptical the envoys would “come back to Dublin with something concrete,” and he wants the U.S. to “exert influence on the source of this war, that is Russia,” ABC News reported. We covered the four hours of talks in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.
Will Europe get a seat at the table?
Maybe. Kushner told Putin Europe wants in. “We see certain shifts on the European side,” he said, adding that bringing Europe into the talks could help end the war. Putin said Russia never refused to talk to Europe, and that Europe should “figure out” whether “they want peace or war.” European leaders are meeting in Dublin on Friday and may discuss who would speak for them.
The BeezLoop Take
Another round of talks and another prisoner swap are real, and the families getting soldiers back will feel it. But after 10 meetings between Witkoff and Putin, the war is still stuck on the same question: whether Ukraine has to hand over land Russia hasn’t even won.
A “humanitarian mission” in a city Russia is trying to capture deserves a hard look before anyone calls it progress. Ukraine is right to want the details first.
The open question: does Trump push Putin on Donbas when they meet in China, or does the pressure keep landing on Kyiv?
Sources: The Moscow Times / Reuters · Yahoo News · ABC News · DRM News (video)
