Russia, US discuss Ukraine's NATO accession: Russian presidential aide

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin and U.S. presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff discussed Ukraine's accession to NATO during their talks in Moscow, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday.

AI Brief

Putin and US officials held a five-hour meeting in Moscow, calling talks constructive and agreeing to keep details confidential.
Russia signals openness to US-backed peace plan but rejects some proposals while stressing continued negotiations.
Ukraine prepares separate meetings with European and US representatives to push for a constructive peace process.

Putin and Witkoff held a roughly five-hour meeting that ended after midnight on Wednesday. Ushakov described the meeting as "extremely useful, constructive and highly informative," saying that the two sides reviewed documents previously conveyed by the United States and agreed not to disclose the essence of the talks.

Ushakov noted that Russia and the United States had reached a consensus at the meeting, though he did not elaborate further.

Ushakov said the progress made by the Russian forces on the frontlines in recent weeks has enabled the West to form a more appropriate assessment of the situation.

Ushakov said that Russia has so far only engaged in negotiations with the United States over the Ukraine crisis, and emphasized that Russia does not hold a negative stance toward engaging with Europe, but Europe has refused to cooperate.

Also on Wednesday, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin did not reject the U.S.-backed peace plan, just found some of them "unacceptable".

The spokesman said that Russia will hold as many meetings as necessary with U.S. representatives in order to resolve the conflict.

The less public the negotiation process is, the more effective it may become, he said.

He added that Russia hopes the United States will refrain from disseminating details about the talks, just as Russia has done.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that Ukraine's delegation for peace negotiations is planning to hold separate meetings with European and U.S. representatives following the U.S.-Russia talks in Moscow.

In a post on the social media platform X, Zelensky announced that Ukrainian negotiators would meet with national security advisors to European leaders on Wednesday.

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's secretary of national security and defense council, and Andrii Hnatov, chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces, will represent Ukraine at the meetings.

After meeting European officials, Umerov and Hnatov will prepare for a meeting with envoys of U.S. President Donald Trump, Zelensky said.

"Ukraine will work constructively in pursuit of real peace," he added.