Trump envoys brief Putin after Ukraine peace talks

Envoys brief Putin after Abu Dhabi talks

U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Thursday after brokering two days of negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi.

First direct talks in nine months

The Abu Dhabi negotiations were the first direct discussions between Moscow and Kyiv representatives in nine months as the push for peace stalled.Kushner and Witkoff went straight to the Kremlin after the talks ended Wednesday.

Prisoner swap agreed, no major breakthrough

The two days of talks produced no major breakthrough aside from an agreement to swap a large number of prisoners, with the exact figure still to be announced. The meeting lasted about two hours.

U.S. seeks European seat at table

Kushner said one goal of the Putin meeting was to get the Russian leader's blessing for European representatives to join talks about the continent's broader security arrangements.The U.S.

Russia opposes European involvement

Moscow does not want European countries in direct negotiations, complaining they finance and supply Ukraine's military. Europeans are concerned about Russia's conduct and broader intentions on the continent.

Putin's NATO demands remain firm

Putin has described NATO's eastward expansion as a main security threat to Russia and demanded the trans-Atlantic alliance's troops be pulled back from Russia's borders.

Putin warns on European troops in Ukraine

Putin reaffirmed to the U.S. envoys that any European troops sent to Ukraine after a ceasefire would be absolutely unacceptable. Russia would regard the deployment as a security threat and legitimate targets, he said.

“In other words, the war would resume immediately.”

Russia claims four annexed Ukrainian regions

Putin said Russia regards its border with Ukraine to be sealed by a prospective peace deal as now extending to cover the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow annexed in two thousand twenty-two but never fully…

Zelenskyy sees political window opening

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Dublin for a meeting of more than forty European countries.He said political changes, including Democrats taking over U.S.

“The political landscape in Europe could change in two thousand twenty-seven.”

Fighting continues along front line

Amid negotiations, fighting continues along the one thousand two hundred kilometre front line. Russia's bigger army is held back by Ukrainian resistance while Moscow's drone and missile strikes disrupt heat, electricity and water supplies to…

Starlink speed limits disrupt Ukrainian operations

Ukraine is experiencing another slowdown in the U.S. Starshield system, SpaceX's military-grade Starlink version. Military units recorded significant disruptions, including speed restrictions limiting Ukrainian drones to one hundred sixty-one kilometres per hour, Zelenskyy said Thursday.

Musk acknowledged throttling Starlink in Ukraine

Elon Musk acknowledged that SpaceX had throttled the Starlink internet service in Ukraine for about a week, saying the system could not be used for offensive strikes against Russia.

“If someone in America is making decisions that basically treat Ukrainian territory as if it is not Ukrainian, then this tells us where things are going.”