<figure id="attachment_3264490" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3264490" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3264490" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bc2d82e9-vladimir-putin-x-steve-witkoff-23012026.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3264490" class="wp-caption-text">Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
MOSCOW: Top US negotiators, including Steve Witkoff, met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow late Thursday for talks on a US-drafted plan to end the Ukraine war, just as Kyiv announced it had agreed on post-war security guarantees with Washington.
Diplomatic efforts to end Europe&#8217;s deadliest conflict since World War II have gained pace in recent months, though both Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement.
Talks concluded after stretching past the three-hour mark, the Kremlin said in a statement released early Friday.
Witkoff had previously said he believed the two sides were &#8220;down to one issue&#8221;, without elaborating.
Video published by the Kremlin showed a smiling Putin shaking hands with Witkoff, US President Donald Trump&#8217;s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House advisor Josh Gruenbaum.
Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov took part on the Russian side, the Kremlin said.
The high-stakes meeting came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a draft deal was &#8220;nearly, nearly ready&#8221; and that he and Trump had agreed on the issue of post-war security guarantees.
Russia, which occupies around 20% of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country&#8217;s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal.
But Kyiv has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow and says it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from launching a renewed assault.
After meeting Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelensky said the security guarantees were &#8220;done&#8221;, speaking in English to journalists. He said the UK and France had already committed to forces on the ground.
Europe &#8216;fragmented&#8217;
Neither Witkoff nor Kushner will stay in the Russian capital overnight, instead flying straight to Abu Dhabi, where talks will continue in &#8220;military-to-military&#8221; working groups, Witkoff said.
The details of the upcoming talks in the UAE have not been released, and it is not clear whether Russian and Ukrainian officials will meet face-to-face.
Zelensky said these talks would last two days.
Trump repeated on Wednesday his oft-stated belief that Putin and Zelensky were close to a deal.
&#8220;I believe they&#8217;re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they don&#8217;t, they&#8217;re stupid – that goes for both of them,&#8221; he said after delivering a speech at Davos.
Zelensky, at his address in Davos, blasted the EU&#8217;s lack of &#8220;political will&#8221; in countering Putin in a fiery address.
&#8220;Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,&#8221; he said.
Trump&#8217;s dramatic foreign policy pivots, including a recent bid to take over Greenland – an autonomous Danish territory – have stirred worries in Europe about whether Washington can be trusted as a reliable security partner.
In his speech, Zelensky criticised Europe for pinning hopes on the US defending them in case of aggression.
&#8220;Europe looks lost trying to convince the US President to change,&#8221; Zelensky said.
Russian strikes this week have left most of Kyiv without electricity, with residents of 4,000 buildings without heat in sub-zero temperatures.
Russia, which launched its Ukraine offensive in February 2022, says its strikes are aimed at energy infrastructure fuelling Ukraine&#8217;s &#8220;military-industrial complex&#8221;.
Kyiv says the strikes are a war crime designed to wear down its civilian population into submission.

MatchPoint Times

US negotiators meet Putin for high-stakes Ukraine talks

Diplomatic initiatives have picked up, though Moscow and Kyiv remain divided over territory in a potential post-war agreement.

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