Putin and Trump see eye to eye on Ukrainian settlement

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his meeting with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner had been “very useful”.

Putin on meeting with Witkoff

According to the head of state, the meeting lasted "five hours". He noted the meeting with the U.S. envoys took so long because during negotiations the sides had to go over practically every point of the U.S. proposal.

The Russian head of state noted that the U.S. President is sincerely trying to find a consensus solution to the Ukrainian problem, but that "is no easy feat."

He noted there were issues during work on the peace plan for Ukraine on which no consensus was reached, "but it is difficult work".

"In some cases, we said, 'Yes, we can discuss this, but we cannot agree on it," Putin said.

While a 28-point peace plan drafted by the United States earlier is still valid and being discussed, Washington proposed breaking it into four separate packages.

"They just broke these 28 points into four packages. And they proposed discussing these four packages with us. But, in effect, they are the same [points]," Putin said.

The Russian leader added that Europeans need to engage in the work on a Ukrainian settlement, not hinder it.

Trump on Putin-Witkoff meeting

U.S. President Donald Trump said Witkoff and Kushner had a "reasonably good meeting" with during high-stakes negotiations in Moscow.

"I can tell you that they had a reasonably good meeting with President Putin," Trump said.

The U.S. leader said he spoke with Witkoff and Kushner Tuesday night following their meeting at the Kremlin. He is not yet prepared to forecast what the results will be of the meeting. The U.S. president also noted that Washington has "something worked out" in its contacts with Ukrainian representatives.

"What comes out of that meeting? I can't tell you, because it does take two to tango," Trump said. 

According to him, the U.S. negotiators believed Moscow would like to end the Ukraine conflict. The U.S. leader said that Witkoff and Kushner came away with the impression that Russia is inclined toward a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.

"I think he'd like to be trading with the United States of America," Trump said.