The Kremlin announced on Wednesday, December 3, that President Vladimir Putin accepted some US proposals aimed at ending the war in Ukraine and rejected others, emphasizing that Russia is ready to meet US negotiators as many times as necessary to reach an agreement.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the statement following the five-hour talks that stretched into the early morning between Putin and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, in Moscow. Though a Kremlin aide had initially noted that “compromises have not yet been found,” Peskov offered a more nuanced view.
When asked directly if Putin had rejected the US proposals, Peskov clarified that this was inaccurate.
“A direct exchange of views took place yesterday for the first time,” Peskov said. “Some things were accepted, some things were marked as unacceptable — this is a normal working process of finding a compromise.”
Peskov added that Russia is grateful to Trump for his efforts. He noted that the Kremlin would not provide a running commentary on the discussions with the United States, as excessive publicity was deemed unlikely to be constructive.
The focus now shifts to lower-level negotiations to pave the way for future high-level meetings.
“Work is currently being carried out at a working expert level,” Peskov stated. “It is at the expert level that certain results should be achieved that will then become the basis for contacts at the highest level.”
Earlier, Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, revealed that Moscow had previously received a 27-point set of proposals and then four additional documents, all of which were discussed with Witkoff.
The negotiations have been complicated by European and Ukrainian officials, who were alarmed by a leaked set of 28 initial US draft proposals in November, claiming they bowed to Moscow’s main demands. Subsequently, European powers came up with a counter-proposal, and the US and Ukraine agreed on an “updated and refined peace framework.”
Putin, however, recently criticized European powers, accusing them of trying to sink the peace talks by proposing ideas that were “absolutely unacceptable” to Russia.