Overview
- A meeting in the Kremlin on Thursday, Nov. 12 between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner lasted about two to two and a half hours and was followed by the envoys’ flight to Dublin to see President Volodymyr Zelensky.
- U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff reported that the sides agreed to convene a new round of three‑way talks and that European representatives would join the next phase, but neither Moscow nor Kyiv has publicly confirmed that arrangement.
- Participants described a large prisoner exchange and other humanitarian steps as signs of progress, and Jared Kushner said Europe’s involvement is needed to advance the process after talks in Dublin.
- Putin asked the envoys to relay thanks to President Donald Trump and Melania Trump for mediating the Oleshky evacuation and proposed a similar humanitarian ceasefire for Konstantinovka, a city whose control is disputed and appears only partly held by Russian forces according to open‑source data.
- Territorial claims remain the main obstacle because Russia insists the international state border is the sole line of demarcation, a position that Moscow’s constitutional changes and battlefield realities make the hardest issue to resolve and that will shape any post‑war security framework.