Putin, Witkoff and Kushner back new talks and largest prisoner swap

Talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin lasted 2.5 hours. The sides agreed to continue the trilateral format and supported the idea of the largest prisoner exchange, Yuri Ushakov said.

The meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on November 12 lasted about two and a half hours. Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov described the conversation as substantive, constructive, frank and useful.

Ushakov said the American guests gave a detailed account of the trilateral contacts in Abu Dhabi, and the sides agreed to continue this negotiating track. They also supported an initiative to conduct the largest prisoner exchange, the parameters of which are now being coordinated.

Ushakov said the American negotiators supported Putin's proposal to extend the practice of the humanitarian initiative in Oleshky to Kostiantynivka. He said this would allow everyone to determine who controls the city.

Джаред Кушнер и Стив Уиткофф в Кремле (архив, декабрь 2025 года)

“Gray zones” and “eternal peace”

At the start of the meeting, Putin said the issue of the so-called “gray zones” raised by the Ukrainian side would always be a subject of dispute, while for Moscow the only line of demarcation remained the state border. He also said Russia wanted peace to be lasting and become an “eternal peace.”

Kushner, for his part, noted significant changes in the Europeans' position and expressed confidence that moving to a multilateral format would help advance efforts to end the war. Witkoff said Europeans were in the United Arab Emirates during the talks and that the U.S. side kept them informed of the discussions.

“Europeans must decide”

Ushakov said it was time for Europeans to decide whether they wanted peace or war, and called the deployment of contingents from the so-called “coalition of the willing” in Ukraine a recipe for endless war. Russian media reported that Putin said foreign troops in Ukraine would become a legitimate target for the Russian army.

The Kremlin expects Europe to support work on a new long-term security architecture, which Russia is ready to begin immediately together with the United States. Putin recalled draft agreements with the United States and NATO that Moscow proposed in 2021.

Помощник президента России Юрий Ушаков (справа, архив)

The next step is a leaders’ meeting

According to Ushakov, Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will continue discussing a settlement in Ukraine at the APEC summit in China, while a trilateral meeting of the leaders of Russia, China and the United States is also being prepared. After leaving the Kremlin, Witkoff and Kushner flew to Dublin for a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders. Asked by journalists whether Moscow was serious, Witkoff said he believed progress had been made.

Photo: RIA Novosti, Kremlin.ru (CC BY 4.0, archive)

Putin, Witkoff and Kushner back new talks and largest prisoner swap