Five hours of talks, but Russia rejects US peace proposal

The United States has taken steps to end the worst Ukraine-Russia war since World War II. As part of this, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday (December 2).
However, a Russian official said after the talks that there had been “no compromises” on the key issue of Moscow’s control over Ukrainian territory to end the war. The talks lasted about five hours and ended after midnight. “We have not reached an agreement so far, but some US proposals can be discussed,” said Yuri Ushakov, a top Kremlin adviser who attended the meeting.
While Ushakov described the talks as “very productive and constructive”, he stressed that “a lot of work remains to be done both in Washington and Moscow.” The US delegation traveled to the Russian capital to discuss a peace plan. After the previous 28-point draft was leaked, Ukraine and its allies sharply criticized it as too pro-Russian, after which Washington updated the plan.
The Kremlin has condemned the counter-proposals from Kiev and Europe. Putin has repeatedly said that they are unacceptable to Russia. Pointing to Ukraine’s European allies, Putin claimed, “They are for war. We can clearly see that the main goal of these changes is one – to stop the entire peace process and make absolutely unacceptable demands on Russia.”