Witkoff says Putin talks made progress and Europeans will join next round

United States envoy Steve Witkoff said his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow had produced progress, and that Russia, the United States and Ukraine had agreed to hold a further round of three-way negotiations. According to a summary of his remarks posted by the Telegram channel Abu Ali Express, Witkoff also said European representatives would take part in the coming talks on Ukraine.

Ynet reported that Witkoff attended the Kremlin meeting together with Jared Kushner, and that the two envoys of President Donald Trump said it had been agreed that Europe would join a negotiating process that also touches on the security arrangements of NATO. The Israeli news site reported that Putin, for his part, issued a warning that the war would be resumed immediately, and kept up his demand for a withdrawal.

How the Moscow meeting fits the wider talks

According to Ynet, the visit to Putin came after Kyiv and Moscow held their first round of direct talks in 9 months, in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The reports describe a diplomatic track running on several fronts at once: direct contact between the warring parties, American shuttle diplomacy between the two capitals, and now, according to Witkoff, a widening of the table to include European participants.

The trilateral format Witkoff described would bring Russian, American and Ukrainian negotiators into the same process. Neither report gives a date or a location for that next round. Ynet characterised the American side as having promised a significant change on the European front, while presenting the agreement on European participation as a claim made by the envoys rather than as something confirmed by Moscow.

NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is the Western military alliance that includes the United States and most European states. Ynet's report that the talks extend to NATO's security set-up indicates that the negotiations go beyond the front line in Ukraine itself, though the outlet did not detail which aspects are under discussion.

From the Kremlin to Ireland

Ynet reported that after leaving the Kremlin, Witkoff and Kushner flew directly to Ireland, where they met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to the outlet, Zelensky said that limits had once again been placed on the military use of Starlink, the satellite communications network, and described the American approach as strange. Ukrainian forces have relied on satellite links for battlefield communications, which is why any restriction on that service is a sensitive point for Kyiv. Ynet did not report an American response to Zelensky's complaint.

Putin's warning and a blast in St Petersburg

Alongside the diplomatic contacts, Ynet reported Putin's threat that fighting would restart at once, and his continued insistence on a withdrawal. The report did not spell out in the excerpt available which forces or territory that demand refers to.

Ynet also reported that another senior Russian officer had been killed in a car explosion in St Petersburg, Russia's second city. The outlet framed the question of who carried out the killing as open, and it did not name the officer in the material available to us.

About the sources

Both reports were published in Hebrew by Israeli outlets. Ynet is the news website associated with the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. Abu Ali Express is a Telegram channel that relays news and statements, and in this case it carried a short, list-style summary of what Witkoff said at the end of the Moscow meeting. The two accounts are consistent on the core points: that the envoys met Putin, that they spoke of progress, and that Europeans are to join the talks. Ynet names Kushner as a participant; the Abu Ali Express post mentions only Witkoff.

What the reports do not say

• Neither report carries the Kremlin's own account of the meeting, so Russia's view of whether progress was made, and whether it accepts European participation, is not on record here.
• No date, venue or list of European participants has been given for the next round of trilateral talks.
• The reports do not explain what the new Starlink restrictions involve, who imposed them, or how Washington responded to Zelensky.
• The officer killed in St Petersburg is not named in the material, and no one is reported to have claimed responsibility.