Kremlin meeting yields no breakthrough as Putin rejects European troops in Ukraine

U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner left the Kremlin on Thursday without a new peace framework, facing a Russian president who reiterated that European military presence in Ukraine after a ceasefire would be unacceptable.

Witkoff and Kushner traveled to Moscow immediately after concluding two days of U.S.-mediated talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi. Those discussions, the first direct contact between the warring sides in nine months, produced no major structural breakthrough. The only concrete agreement was a prisoner swap, with the exact number of detainees to be exchanged still under review.

A central point of contention in the Kremlin meeting was the role of Europe. Kushner stated that a primary objective was securing Putin's approval for European representatives to join the security talks. Washington and Kyiv prefer a single European negotiator, but Moscow argues that European nations are actively financing and supplying Ukraine's military, making their involvement in direct talks complicated.

Putin told the U.S. delegation that any European troops deployed to Ukraine following a ceasefire would be viewed as a security threat and legitimate targets. He warned that such a deployment would cause the war to resume immediately. The Russian leader also affirmed that Russia considers its border with Ukraine to extend to the four regions it annexed in 2022, even though Moscow does not fully control the areas.

In Dublin, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended a gathering with more than 40 European countries, including NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Rutte said the U.S., Europe, and Ukraine are aligned on the structure of security guarantees, but a deal or at least a ceasefire is still required. Zelenskyy noted that political shifts, including the U.S. midterm elections in January and French balloting next year, could create a window for a settlement.

Zelenskyy called the prisoner exchange a positive step but insisted Ukraine will not cede occupied territory for peace. He also raised concerns about the U.S. Starshield system, the military-grade version of SpaceX's internet service. Zelenskyy reported that military units are experiencing speed restrictions limiting drones to 161 kilometers per hour. He said a military investigation found the restrictions were not random errors, a problem that also emerged last month.

Elon Musk previously acknowledged that SpaceX throttled the service for about a week because it could not be used for offensive strikes against Russia. Zelenskyy said the limits currently cover operations in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and that Kyiv is seeking clarification from U.S. officials. He questioned whether American decisions treating Ukrainian territory as non-Ukrainian indicate a shift in policy.

Fighting continued along the 1,200-kilometer front line during the diplomatic efforts. Russia's Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 71 Ukrainian drones and struck a drone-manufacturing plant in Kyiv along with three other facilities. The Ukrainian air force reported that Russia launched missiles and 123 drones, 73 of which were jet-powered, hitting 17 locations overnight. In a separate incident, a Russian colonel was killed in a car bomb explosion in St. Petersburg.