Russia and the US appear to have failed to make any significant progress on a possible peace deal to end the war in Ukraine after five hours of Kremlin talks between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump's top envoys.
The meeting in Moscow between Putin and Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner went past midnight on Tuesday.
Afterwards, Putin's top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters: "Compromises have not yet been found.
“There is still a lot of work to be done.”
However US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the talks yielded “some progress”.
He told Fox News host Sean Hannity: “And so what we have tried to do, and I think have made some progress, is figure out, what could the Ukrainians live with that gives them security guarantees for the future.”
Mr Ushakov said Putin reacted negatively to some US proposals. Mr Witkoff went to the US embassy in Moscow after the talks to brief the White House, Mr Ushakov said.
The aide added that a meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump was not currently planned, though he said the talks were constructive and that there were huge opportunities for US-Russian economic cooperation.
Mr Ushakov said Putin had sent a series of important signals and his greetings to Trump, but that the sides had agreed not to disclose details to the media.
He added that they had discussed the “territorial problem”, Kremlin shorthand for Russian claims to the whole of Donbas, though Ukraine controls at least 1,900 square miles of the area which Russia claims as its own. Almost all countries recognise Donbas as part of Ukraine.
“Some American draft proposals look more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed,” Mr Ushakov said.
“Some of the formulations that have been proposed to us are not suitable for us, that is - the work will continue.”
Mr Witkoff, a billionaire US real estate developer who has known Trump since the 1980s, and Mr Kushner, the husband of Trump's daughter Ivanka, began talks in the Kremlin after a stroll across Red Square past the mausoleum of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin to the towers of the Kremlin.
They talked with Putin, Mr Ushakov and Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, via interpreters.
“Our people are over in Russia right now to see if we can get it settled. Not an easy situation, let me tell you. What a mess,” Trump said on Tuesday in Washington, adding that there were casualties of 25,000 to 30,000 per month in the war.
Earlier on Tuesday, Putin struck an aggressive tone, saying Russia was ready to fight if Europe wanted a war.
“We're not planning to go to war with Europe, I've said that a hundred times,” he said following an investment forum.
“But if Europe suddenly wants to fight us and starts, we're ready right now. There can be no doubt about that.”
He added: “If Europe suddenly wants to start a war with us and does, then a situation could very quickly arise in which we have no one to negotiate with.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.
A leaked set of 28 US draft peace proposals emerged in November, alarming Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow's main demands.
European powers then came up with a counter-proposal, and at talks in Geneva, the US and Ukraine said they had created an "updated and refined peace framework" to end the war.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking in Dublin, said everything would depend on the talks in Moscow.
He also stressed the commitment by the Trump administration to seek a deal.
“A little bit optimism was in my words because of some speed of negotiations, and from the American side, their interest in it,” he said on a visit to Dublin.
“It showed that America is not withdrawing now from any kind of diplomatic way of dialogue and it is good.”
