Putin reaffirms commitment to continuing war in Ukraine after talks with US envoys

Russian President Vladimir Putin sat across from US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for over three hours on September 5, and walked out the same man who walked in. Moscow’s war objectives in Ukraine remain unchanged, even as the Kremlin dressed the meeting in the language of progress and goodwill. The talks, held inside the Kremlin and lasting three hours and ten minutes, produced one tangible outcome: Putin ordered a three-day halt to Russian airstrikes on Kyiv. Ukraine reciprocated. That’s it. No territorial concessions. No timelines. No framework for a ceasefire beyond a 72-hour window designed to keep the conversation going. Constructive is doing a lot of heavy lifting Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described the discussions as “substantive, constructive, and frank.” Putin himself acknowledged the situation in Ukraine is “not simple.” He credited former President Donald Trump with peacemaking contributions, a rhetorical gesture that costs nothing and commits Russia to nothing. The meeting did surface mentions of new economic opportunities and potential large-scale projects between Russia and the US. The details remain undefined, but the framing is familiar: dangle commercial ...