US envoy arrives in Moscow for high-stakes talks with Putin on ending war in Ukraine
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Dec. 2 for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the latest American attempt to push forward negotiations on ending Russia's war against Ukraine.
The meeting, set for 5 p.m. local time, comes as Putin signals he sees no need for concessions, having dismissed prospects for progress days earlier and tied any ceasefire to Ukraine withdrawing from unoccupied territory — a nonstarter for Kyiv.
Kirill Dmitriev, a senior Russian economic negotiator met Witkoff in Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport, Russian state media reported.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Witkoff will present Putin with the latest version of the U.S.-Ukraine framework drafted during recent rounds of talks in Geneva and Florida.
Those discussions involved Witkoff, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, who met a Ukrainian delegation led by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov on Nov. 30.
A White House official told the Kyiv Independent that Witkoff and Umerov held another meeting in Florida on Dec. 1 as part of ongoing efforts to revise the U.S.-backed plan.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, along with French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, also held a phone call with Witkoff to discuss the outcomes of the discussions in Florida.
The original draft, unveiled in November, required Kyiv to cap the size of its military, abandon its NATO membership bid, and withdraw from some of the territories it controls.
A source in the Presidential Office previously told the Kyiv Independent that Witkoff shaped the first version of the proposal in direct coordination with Dmitriev, who's long been involved in Moscow's efforts to influence U.S. decision-making.
The Moscow visit marks Witkoff's sixth high-level meeting with Putin. Earlier sessions, held on Feb. 11, March 13, April 11 and 25, and in August, each lasted three to four hours.
Witkoff's role has drawn renewed scrutiny after leaked conversations published by Bloomberg showed him advising a Russian official on how to sway the White House.
Washington now waits to see whether Putin will accept or reject the newest framework, though experts the Kyiv Independent spoke with say expectations remain low.
