U.S. envoys met Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin before heading to Ireland for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Washington sought new momentum for its peace efforts.
asserted
Washington → meet → efforts
Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is also President Donald Trump's son-in-law, brokered talks this week between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv.
asserted
who → broker → Moscow
The session in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, brought the first direct discussions between Ukrainian and Russian representatives in nine months as the push for a settlement stalled.
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push → bring → settlement
The talks produced no major breakthrough, aside from an agreement to swap a large number of prisoners, with the exact figure still to be announced.
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figure → produce → prisoners
Plans for another round of talks were announced as well, with Witkoff and Zelensky saying Europe will join, though they gave no details about which countries or how many.
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they → announce → details
Kushner and Witkoff met with Putin for about two hours before going to Dublin, where they met with Zelensky for more than an hour as the conflict stretches toward the five-year mark.
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conflict → meet → mark
Europe seeks a place at the negotiating table
Kushner said one goal of the meeting with Putin was to get the Russian leader’s blessing for European representatives to be part of the talks, which are looking at the continent’s broader security arrangements.
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which → seek → arrangements
In Abu Dhabi, several European security advisers were involved on the sidelines but not in the main three-way talk.
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advisers → involve → talk
Speaking to reporters before boarding a plane to leave Moscow, Witkoff said the next round of talks has been agreed upon.
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round → speak → talks
Russian state TV showed Witkoff saying that “the Europeans will join at the next meeting,” but he did not elaborate.
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he → show → meeting
Zelensky in Dublin indicated the Europeans would not be on the sidelines.
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Europeans → indicate → sidelines
They will have a voice,” he said.
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he → have → voice
The U.S. and Zelensky want Europe to appoint a single person to negotiate with Moscow.
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Europe → want → Moscow
Russia, meanwhile, doesn’t want European countries involved in the direct negotiations, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine’s military effort.
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they → want → effort
The Europeans are concerned about Russia’s conduct and broader intentions on the continent.
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Europeans → concern → continent
But Washington and European capitals have sometimes seemed at odds in their diplomatic efforts.
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Washington → seem → efforts
Trump has repeatedly sided with Putin, last month waiving sanctions and striking a deal to import Russian diesel, in moves that dismayed Ukraine and European leaders.
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that → side → Ukraine
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov argued that for Europe to join peace talks, it first must name a representative.
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it → argue → representative
“The Europeans squabble like spiders in a jar.
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Europeans → squabble → jar
If someone takes the initiative to establish contact with the Russian side, such people are facing ostracism.”
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people → take → ostracism
Many in Europe also see the inclusion of Moscow in discussions about postwar European security as an unwelcome concession to Putin, who has described NATO’s eastward expansion as a main security threat and has demanded the alliance’s troops be pulled back from Russia’s borders.
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troops → see → borders
Putin's aide calls the talks ‘constructive’
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aide → call → talks
Some analysts say negotiators may be looking to grant Russia concessions on NATO's strategy in return for peace in Ukraine – a possibility that alarms European leaders.
uncertain
that → say → leaders
Thursday’s talks were “substantive, constructive, frank and useful,” Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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aide → say → ?
He added that the Kremlin leader reminded Witkoff and Kushner about Moscow’s proposals from 2021 – before it sent troops into Ukraine – demanding that NATO roll back the alliance’s military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.
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NATO → add → Europe
Russia will update those with “fresh considerations,” Ushakov said.
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Ushakov → update → considerations
Putin reaffirmed to the U.S. envoys that any European troops sent to Ukraine after a ceasefire — an idea long floated by Europe to prevent a new attack by Moscow — would be “absolutely unacceptable” and Russia would regard the deployment as a security threat and legitimate target.
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Russia → reaffirm → threat
“In other words, the war would resume immediately,” the Russian president said.
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president → resume → words
He also said Russia regards its border with Ukraine to be sealed by a prospective peace deal as now extending to cover the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow annexed in 2022 but never fully controlled.
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Moscow → say → 2022
Fighting continues as another bitter winter approaches
Zelensky is in Dublin for a meeting of more than 40 European countries that also includes NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
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that → continue → Rutte
Rutte said the U.S., Europe and Ukraine are “very much aligned” on what security guarantees should look like, following a meeting in Paris in January.
“But now of course we need the peace deal, or at least a ceasefire,” Rutte said.
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Rutte → say → deal
Amid the negotiations, fighting continues along the 1,200-kilometer (about 750-mile) front line.
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fighting → continue → line
Russia’s bigger army has been held back by dogged Ukrainian resistance while Moscow’s drone and missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities disrupted heat, electricity and water supplies to Ukrainian cities, sapping public morale in what Kyiv calls a “weaponization of winter.”
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Kyiv → hold → winter
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 71 Ukrainian drones overnight.
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defenses → say → drones
Its forces struck a drone-manufacturing plant in Kyiv and three other facilities producing missile fuel and drone components in the area around the Ukrainian capital, the ministry said.
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ministry → strike → capital
Russia launched missiles and 123 drones, 73 of them jet-powered drones, at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said.
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force → launch → Ukraine
Hits were recorded at 17 locations, it said.
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it → record → locations
Ukraine is experiencing another slowdown in the U.S. Starshield system — SpaceX’s military-grade version of the Starlink satellite internet service — that the country needs to defend itself against Russian attacks, Zelensky said Thursday on social media.
asserted
Zelensky → experience → media
Military units have recorded “significant disruptions,” including speed restrictions limiting Ukrainian drones to 161 kph (100 mph), Zelensky said, adding that a military investigation established that the restrictions weren't random errors.
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restrictions → record → kph
Ukraine uses Starlink and Starshield for intercepting Russian drones and launching its own strikes.
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Ukraine → use → strikes
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
