A five-hour meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, in the Kremlin, failed to produce a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin confirmed that no compromise had been reached and much work remained. The talks lasted until midnight, and some of the US proposals were deemed inappropriate by Russia.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin's top aide, said the meeting was constructive and opened up opportunities for US-Russia economic cooperation, although a direct meeting between Putin and Trump is not yet planned. The discussions also touched on territorial issues, including Russia's claims to the Donbas, much of which remains under Ukrainian control. Ushakov emphasized that some draft US proposals still require further discussion.

Trump himself called the situation extremely difficult and chaotic, given that the war has claimed 25,000 to 30,000 casualties per month. He emphasized that ending the conflict is one of his most difficult foreign policy goals, despite his previous criticism of Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Several European countries have expressed concern about the previously leaked US peace proposal, which they believe is too favorable to Moscow. Ukraine and the US then attempted to establish a fairer peace framework through negotiations in Geneva. President Zelenskiy emphasized that everything depended on the negotiations in Moscow, and that it was crucial for the process to be transparent and without any backstabbing by Ukraine.

Putin emphasized that Russia did not want war with Europe, but threatened to cut off Ukraine's access to the sea if an attack occurred. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha assessed that Putin's statement showed that Russia was not yet ready to truly end the conflict. This situation emphasized that the road to peace was still long and full of uncertainty. (az)

Source: Newsmaker.id