Peace in Ukraine… Russia awaits a U.S. response to the Moscow talks

The Kremlin said on Friday that Moscow was waiting for a response from Washington following talks held earlier this week in the Russian capital between President Vladimir Putin and representatives of the United States.

Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov as saying, “We are now waiting for the reaction of our American colleagues to the discussion we held on Tuesday.”

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He added that there were no plans for a phone call between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, nor had a date been set for a new meeting with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.

In a meeting that lasted nearly five hours, Putin met on Tuesday with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the U.S. president’s son-in-law, in an attempt to reach an agreement to end the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

At the time, the Kremlin described the talks with the United States as “useful,” while noting that “a great deal of work” still needed to be done and that no settlement had yet been reached.

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Putin had warned Europe that it would face a swift defeat if it went to war with Russia, and rejected European proposals on Ukraine, calling them completely unacceptable to Moscow.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to end the war, but his efforts have not yet succeeded in achieving peace, including his summit with Putin in Alaska in August and his meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukrainian and European officials expressed concern last week after a leaked 28-point U.S. peace proposal, which they said conceded to Moscow’s key demands: that Kyiv never join NATO, that Russia control one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, and that restrictions be imposed on the Ukrainian army.

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European powers subsequently put forward a counter-proposal for peace, after which the United States and Ukraine said they had developed an “updated and revised framework for peace” to end the war.

Russia’s main demands include a pledge that Ukraine never join NATO, restrictions on the Ukrainian military, Russian control over the entire Donbass region, and recognition of Russian control over Crimea, Donbass, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as well as guarantees for the protection of Russian speakers in Ukraine.

Ukraine says these demands amount to surrender and would ultimately leave it vulnerable to a new Russian military attack, while the United States has proposed a ten-year security guarantee for Kyiv.

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