Ukraine’s desire to join NATO was a “key question” discussed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior American officials during talks in Moscow, the Kremlin says.
Putin’s top aide, Yury Ushakov, made the comment on Wednesday, the day after a five-hour meeting between Putin and Washington officials Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner failed to deliver a breakthrough in Ukraine peace negotiations.
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“The American partners have confirmed their readiness to take into account our considerations and our key proposals,” Ushakov told reporters.
While Kyiv argues it must join NATO to protect itself against future Russian aggression, Moscow says Ukraine must never be allowed to join the military alliance.
Another significant area of disagreement is territory, with Ushakov saying shortly after the Witkoff meeting that “no compromise” has been found on regions Russia captured and plans to keep.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the Moscow meeting was “reasonably good” but it’s unclear what happens now.
He told reporters in the Oval Office the Russians “very strongly” want to make a deal to end the war in Ukraine. “What comes out of that meeting I can’t tell you because it does take two to tango,” Trump said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a video statement late Wednesday, said pressure must be applied on Russia to achieve peace.
“Right now the world clearly feels there’s an opportunity to end the war and that current diplomatic activities must be reinforced with pressure on the aggressor. Everything depends on this combination,” he said.
Ukraine’s European allies later hit out at Russia at a NATO meeting in Belgium, accusing Putin of having no intention of stopping the full-scale war it launched against its neighbour in February 2022.
“What we see is that Putin has not changed any course. He’s pushing more aggressively on the battlefield,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said. “It’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t want to have any kind of peace.”
‘Positive outcome’
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday it’s “not correct” to say Russia is against the US peace plan.
“We’re deliberately not going to add anything,” he said. “It’s understood that the quieter these negotiations are conducted, the more productive they will be.”
Responding to Tuesday’s US-Russian negotiations, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha confirmed that Witkoff, the US special envoy, spoke to the head of the Ukrainian delegation after he met with Putin in Moscow.
“Representatives of the American delegation reported that, in their opinion, the talks in Moscow had a positive outcome,” he said, adding representatives from Kyiv would be invited to the US again soon. The two sides held talks in Florida on Sunday.
Witkoff and Kushner briefed Trump and Ukrainian officials after a “thorough, productive meeting” with Russia’s leader, the White House said.
Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, NATO chief Mark Rutte said Putin is “wrong” to believe he could “outlast” the alliance.
“We’re not going anywhere,” he promised, adding that two-thirds of member states have committed to sending $4bn in weapons to Ukraine as part of a new initiative.
Hungary, however, said it will not send any weapons or money to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a media briefing following the meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
“A brutal war fanaticism has gripped the European members of NATO. This blinds them and makes them incapable of making rational decisions,” Szijjarto said, adding Europe’s mainstream members of NATO are undermining Trump’s peace efforts.
What’s Trump’s next move?
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said the Putin-Witkoff meeting appeared not to have progressed Washington’s aim of brokering peace.
“The signals that seem to have come out of it is that the search for a peace agreement acceptable to both sides has, for the time being, stalled,” he noted.
“What really matters here in Ukraine is what Donald Trump’s next move is. Will he come back with another barrage of threats to get Ukraine to capitulate to a bad deal? Or does he, potentially worse, lose interest and walk away?”
In other developments, the EU agreed to phase out Russian gas by late 2027. “By depleting Putin’s war chest, we stand in solidarity with Ukraine,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s parliament passed a budget for 2026 in which more than one-quarter of GDP will be spent on the army, as well as buying and producing weapons.
“This is an important signal of Ukraine’s resilience and securing a stable financial provision for the next year’s needs,” Zelenskyy said.
“The priorities are clear: ensuring our defence, social programmes, and the ability to rebuild our lives after Russia’s attacks.”
