Overview
- U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Vladimir Putin for five hours but left Moscow without a breakthrough, with a follow-up meeting set for Thursday in Florida with Ukraine’s negotiator Rustem Umerov.
- President Donald Trump said his team’s impression was that Putin would like to end the war, while the Kremlin said some U.S. proposals were unacceptable and flagged territory and NATO as core sticking points.
- Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said recent Russian gains had strengthened Moscow’s hand, as Russia claims progress around Pokrovsk that Ukraine says remains contested by urban fighting.
- European leaders expressed concern over the U.S.-led track, with a Spiegel transcript reported by Reuters quoting Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz warning Kyiv that U.S. negotiators could press for territorial concessions without firm guarantees.
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine will not cede territory, as NATO partners pledged continued military support and the European Commission advanced a loan plan leveraging frozen Russian assets pending leaders’ approval.