Ukraine’s desire to join NATO was a “key issue” during talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior US officials in Moscow, the Kremlin says.
Putin’s top aide, Yuri Ushakov, made the comments Wednesday, the day after a nearly five-hour meeting between Putin and Washington officials Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner that failed to produce a breakthrough on Ukraine peace talks.
Recommended stories
4 List of itemsEnd of list
“The American partners have confirmed their readiness to consider our consideration and our major proposals,” Ushakov told reporters.
Arguing that Kiev must join NATO to protect itself from future Russian aggression, Moscow says Ukraine should never be allowed to join the military alliance.
Another important area of disagreement was territory, Ushakov said shortly after the Witkoff meeting that “No compromise” found on territories occupied by Russia and plans to keep them.
Ukraine’s European allies later attacked Russia at a meeting in Belgium, accusing Putin of having no intention of stopping the full-scale war it launched against its neighbor in February 2022.
“We see that Putin has not changed course. He is moving more aggressively on the battlefield,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said. “It’s very clear that he doesn’t want any kind of peace.”
‘positive effect’
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that it was “not correct” to say that Russia was against the US peace plan.
“We will not deliberately add anything,” he said. “It is understood that the more quietly these negotiations are conducted, the more fruitful they will be.”
Responding to Tuesday’s US-Russian talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha confirmed that US special envoy Witkoff spoke with the head of the Ukrainian delegation after meeting Putin in Moscow.
“Representatives of the American delegation noted that, in their opinion, the talks in Moscow had a positive effect,” he said, adding that the representatives of Kiev would soon be invited to America again. The two parties held talks in Florida on Sunday.
Witkoff and Kushner briefed US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian officials after a “thorough, productive meeting” with the Russian leader, the White House said.
Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, NATO chief Mark Rutte said Putin was “wrong” to believe he could keep the alliance “out”.
“We’re not going anywhere,” he promised, as two-thirds of member states committed. $4 billion in arms shipments to Ukraine as part of a new initiative.
However, Hungary said it would not send any arms or money to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a news conference after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
“A brutal war fanaticism has gripped NATO’s European members. It blinds them and makes them unable to make rational decisions,” Szijjarto said, adding that Europe’s mainstream members of NATO are undermining Trump’s peace efforts.
What is Trump’s next move?
Reporting from Kiev, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said the Putin-Witkoff meeting did not advance Washington’s goal of peace.
“The signals that come out of it are that the search for a mutually acceptable peace deal has stalled for the time being,” he noted.
“What really matters is what Donald Trump’s next move is in Ukraine. Will he come back with yet another threat to capitulate Ukraine to a bad deal? Or will he, potentially worse, lose interest and walk away?”
In other developments, the EU Agreed to phase out Russian gas in late 2027. “We stand in solidarity with Ukraine, deflating Putin’s war chest,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s parliament approved a budget for 2026 in which more than a quarter of GDP will be spent on the military, as well as arms procurement and production.
“This is an important sign of Ukraine’s resilience and securing a stable financial provision for next year’s needs,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The priorities are clear: ensuring our defense, social programs and our ability to rebuild our lives after Russia’s attacks.”