Putin told Trump's envoys that he is "successfully advancing" in Ukraine and will achieve "SVO goals"
Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. special representatives Stephen Witkoff and Jared Kushner that his army is "successfully" advancing in Ukraine and expressed confidence that it will achieve the goals of the "special military operation." This was reported by presidential aide Yuri Ushakov following three hours of talks in the Kremlin, writes The Moscow Times.
"From the Russian side, clear and comprehensive assessments were given of the situation developing during the special military operation. In particular, the real successes of the Russian army in advancing in the combat zone were noted, and confidence in achieving the stated goals was expressed," Ushakov said.
Putin, according to him, once again stated the need to "eliminate all root causes of the conflict," and Kushner and Witkoff "promised to use" the information received from the Russian president "during tomorrow's contacts in Kyiv."
"The American representatives seriously prepared for this trip. They not only expressed the traditional interest in the earliest possible cessation of hostilities but also formulated a number of considerations regarding possible paths to a settlement," Ushakov added.
Despite war fatigue in society, a fuel crisis, economic difficulties, and Ukrainian strikes deep into Russia, Putin is not ready to make concessions: he still wants to seize more territories, a source close to the Kremlin told Reuters.
"There are no chances of reaching an agreement on the front line until Putin completes the capture of the rest of the Donetsk region," she explained. According to the source, the Russian president believes this will happen by the end of the year, as his commanders report to him.
What exactly Witkoff and Kushner brought to Moscow remains unclear. Bloomberg sources on the Ukrainian side suggest that they are again trying to promote a plan to create a demilitarized free economic zone in Donbas.
No progress is expected from the new tour of Trump's special envoys, which had been postponed for over three months, neither in Moscow nor in Kyiv, agency interlocutors say. According to them, Putin is ready to end the war only on his terms, and his demands are becoming tougher as he believes he has an advantage over Ukraine on the battlefield.
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