Putin says he can’t accept some points in U.S. proposal to end Ukraine war : NPR
Russian President Vladimir Putin, third right, Russian Presidential Foreign Policy Advisor Yuri Ushakov, fourth right, and Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO, Special Representative of the President for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries Kirill Dmitriev, right, attend talks with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, second left, and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, third, at the Kremlin Senate Palace in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday December 2.
Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin swimming pool Photo via AP
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Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin swimming pool Photo via AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin said some proposals in the U.S. plan to end the war in Ukraine were unacceptable to the Kremlin, indicating in comments published Thursday that a deal was still far from being reached.
US President Donald Trump has launched the most intense diplomatic action to end the fighting since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor almost four years ago. But these efforts once again face difficult to reconcile demands, including whether Ukraine should cede its land to Russia and how it can be protected from any future aggression from Moscow.
Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to meet with Ukraine’s top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, later Thursday in Miami for further discussions, according to a senior Trump administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Putin said his five-hour talks Tuesday in the Kremlin with Witkoff and Kushner were “necessary” and “useful,” but also “difficult work,” and that some proposals were unacceptable.
Putin spoke to India Today television before landing in New Delhi on Thursday for a state visit. Before the full interview was broadcast, Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti quoted some of his remarks in it.
Tass quoted Putin as saying that during Tuesday’s talks, the parties “had to consider every point” of the US peace proposal, “that’s why it took so long.”
“It was a necessary, very concrete conversation,” he said, with some provisions Moscow was ready to discuss, while others “we cannot accept.”
Trump said Wednesday that Witkoff and Kushner came away from their marathon session confident in their desire to end the war. “They had a very strong feeling that he would like to make a deal,” he added.
Putin declined to provide further details on what Russia might accept or reject, and none of the other officials involved gave details of the negotiations.
“I think it’s premature. Because it could just disrupt the work regime” of the peace effort, Putin said, according to Tass.
European leaders, left on the sidelines by Washington while U.S. officials engage directly with Moscow and kyiv, have accused Putin of feigning interest in Trump’s peace efforts.
French President Emmanuel Macron met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, seeking to involve him in pressuring Russia for a ceasefire. Xi, whose country has provided strong diplomatic support to Putin, did not respond to France’s call but said “China supports all efforts that work toward peace.”
Russian blockades against civilian areas of Ukraine continued into Thursday night. A missile hit Kryvy Rih on Wednesday evening, injuring six people, including a 3-year-old girl, according to municipal administration head Oleksandr Vilkul.
The attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown damaged more than 40 residential buildings, a school and domestic gas pipes, Vilkul said.
A 6-year-old girl died in the southern city of Kherson after being injured by Russian artillery shelling the day before, the head of the regional military administration Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.
The Kherson thermal power plant, which provides heat to more than 40,000 residents, was shut down Thursday after Russia pounded it with drones and artillery for several days, he said.
Authorities have planned emergency meetings to find alternative heating sources, he said. Until then, tents were erected throughout the city where residents could warm up and charge their electronic devices.
Russia also struck Odessa with drones, injuring six people, while civilian and energy infrastructure was damaged, said Oleh Kiper, head of the regional military administration.
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 Thursday by a Ukrainian drone strike on their vehicle, Moscow-based regional leader Vladimir Saldo said. A 68-year-old woman was also injured in the attack, he said.
