Putin meets Trump envoys Witkoff, Kushner to discuss Ukraine peace

Russian president warns Europe: If you want war, then we can fight; Trump administration proposes draft Ukraine peace ideas; Putin dismisses European proposals on Ukraine; Zelensky warns against dealing behind Kyiv’s back

- 

Russia's President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by Kremlin economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, meets US special envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner at the Kremlin in Moscow on Tuesday. – AFP

(AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin met US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin on Tuesday for talks on a possible way to end the deadliest European conflict since World War Two.

Just before the meeting, Putin warned Europe that it would face swift defeat if it went to war with Russia, and he dismissed European counter-proposals on Ukraine as being absolutely unacceptable to Russia.

Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the war but his efforts so far, including a summit with Putin in Alaska in August and meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, have not yet brought peace.

A leaked set of 28 US draft peace proposals emerged last week, alarming Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow’s main demands on Nato, Russian control of a fifth of Ukraine and restrictions on Ukraine’s army.

European powers then came up with a counter-proposal and at talks in Geneva, the United States and Ukraine said they had created an “updated and refined peace framework” to end the war. “I am so pleased to see you,” Putin told Witkoff and Kushner when they met on Tuesday.

“It is a magnificent city,” Witkoff told Putin after earlier strolling with Kushner and the Russian leader’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev on Red Square near the mausoleum of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin.