MOSCOW: The Kremlin said Wednesday that its army’s recent battlefield successes in Ukraine had bolstered its position in talks to end the fighting, as both Moscow and Kyiv prepared for more negotiations with the United States.
US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner negotiated into the early hours with Vladimir Putin but no breakthrough for a peace settlement was announced.
The Kremlin said the two sides had failed to find a “compromise” on the crucial issue of territories and that Ukraine’s participation in NATO remained a “key” question in the talks.
The White House had previously voiced optimism about its plan to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War II but that hope appeared to fade on Wednesday, with Moscow saying it had found parts of the plan “unacceptable.”
Witkoff and Kushner brought an updated version of a US plan to end the war.
Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine gathered pace last month and Putin has said in recent days that Moscow is ready to fight on to seize the rest of the land it claims if Kyiv does not surrender it.
“The progress and nature of the negotiations were influenced by the successes of the Russian army on the battlefield in recent weeks,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov — who took part in the US-Russia talks — told reporters, including AFP.
“Our Russian soldiers, through their military exploits, have helped make the assessments of our foreign partners regarding the paths to a peace settlement more appropriate,” he added.
Moscow insisted it was incorrect to say Putin rejected the plan in its entirety.
It also said Russia was still committed to diplomacy, despite Putin’s stark warning that Moscow was prepared to fight Europe if it wanted war.
“We are still ready to meet as many times as is needed to reach a peace settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
- ‘Keep fight ongoing’ -
The fresh talks come as NATO pledges to buy hundreds of millions of dollars worth of US arms for Kyiv.
NATO chief Mark Rutte said it was positive that peace talks were ongoing but that the alliance should make sure that “Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going.”
Russian troops have been grinding forward across the front line against outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian forces.
Earlier this week, Moscow claimed to have captured the important stronghold of Pokrovsk but a Ukraine army unit fighting in the city said urban combat was still ongoing.
“The enemy is bogged down in urban combat for Pokrovsk and currently cannot seize the city using weapons,” the 7th Air Assault Corps said. According to Ukrainian online map project DeepState, most of the city is occupied by the Russians.
European countries have expressed fears Washington and Moscow will reach agreements without them and have spent the last weeks trying to amend the US plan so that it does not force Kyiv to capitulate.
In Moscow, tensions with Europe were palpable, with Putin delivering an exceptionally hawkish statement on Tuesday.
“We are not planning to go to war with Europe, but if Europe wants to and starts, we are ready right now,” he said.
Britain has downplayed Putin’s hawkish messaging, calling it “yet more Kremlin claptrap from a president who isn’t serious about peace.”
- Ukraine role in NATO ‘key’ in talks -
Moscow went to war in Ukraine in February 2022, saying it wanted to prevent Kyiv joining NATO — a prospect that Ukraine and the Western alliance have called a pretext to start the fighting and that they say was not going to happen.
Since the full-scale offensive, Kyiv has said that joining the Western alliance would protect it from future Russian attacks.
Trump has repeatedly ruled out Ukrainian membership in the bloc.
Ushakov said the issue was “key” at the talks.
Zelensky’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov held a lengthy meeting with European security advisers on Wednesday as the Kyiv team was expected to meet Trump’s envoys later.
“I gave my colleagues a detailed update on the negotiations in Geneva and Florida, and on the next steps in the diplomatic process,” Umerov said.
“It’s important that Europe stays an active part of this,” he added.
Zelensky has said that any peace deal for the conflict should make sure Moscow will not attack again.
Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, which has killed thousands, has also been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent at home unseen since the Soviet era.
