Putin's Adviser Ushakov Scans Trump for a Ceasefire Deal
Yuri Ushakov, a former Russian ambassador to the U.S. and senior aide to Putin, described President Trump’s moves toward a ceasefire as “hasty actions” that don’t benefit Russia in the long term, in an interview with Russian media.
“A 30-day temporary ceasefire. Well, what does it give us? It gives us nothing.” Ushakov said.
“It only gives the Ukrainians the opportunity to regroup, gather strength and continue the same thing in the future.”
Trump dispatched his senior envoy for Russia, Steve Witkoff, to speak with Russian officials about a ceasefire this week. Trump warned he can do “very bad things” to Russia financially if they rejected talks to end the war with Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not confirm Putin would meet Witkoff on Thursday but said Russian leadership plans to hold contacts with the Americans, Russian state media reported.
Witkoff’s trip comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the ball is Russia’s court on ceasefire talks, after Ukraine backed a ceasefire and the U.S. restored military and intelligence support, briefly frozen by Trump.
Ushakov also held a call Wednesday with national security adviser Mike Waltz, who also joined the talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Russia’s demands are reportedly similar to proposals it made shortly before it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022: calling for Ukraine to abandon its push for NATO membership and accept a nuclear-free status.
The demands also reportedly include blocking foreign troops from being deployed in Ukraine and for international recognition of Russian claims to four Ukrainian territories, only some of which it occupies.
#Ushakov #ceasefire #deal
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Yuri Ushakov, a former Russian ambassador to the U.S. and senior aide to Putin, described President Trump’s moves toward a ceasefire as “hasty actions” that don’t benefit Russia in the long term, in an interview with Russian media.
“A 30-day temporary ceasefire. Well, what does it give us? It gives us nothing.” Ushakov said.
“It only gives the Ukrainians the opportunity to regroup, gather strength and continue the same thing in the future.”
Trump dispatched his senior envoy for Russia, Steve Witkoff, to speak with Russian officials about a ceasefire this week. Trump warned he can do “very bad things” to Russia financially if they rejected talks to end the war with Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not confirm Putin would meet Witkoff on Thursday but said Russian leadership plans to hold contacts with the Americans, Russian state media reported.
Witkoff’s trip comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the ball is Russia’s court on ceasefire talks, after Ukraine backed a ceasefire and the U.S. restored military and intelligence support, briefly frozen by Trump.
Ushakov also held a call Wednesday with national security adviser Mike Waltz, who also joined the talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Russia’s demands are reportedly similar to proposals it made shortly before it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022: calling for Ukraine to abandon its push for NATO membership and accept a nuclear-free status.
The demands also reportedly include blocking foreign troops from being deployed in Ukraine and for international recognition of Russian claims to four Ukrainian territories, only some of which it occupies.
#Ushakov #ceasefire #deal
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🔥 Witkoff/Ushakov: The Secret Talks Have Come to Light 🎯
✨ Steve Witkoff told a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace in Ukraine would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk and potentially a separate territorial exchange, according to a recording of their conversation obtained by Bloomberg. 📌
🗣 In the 14 October phone call with Yuri Ushakov, the top foreign policy aide to Putin, Witkoff said he believed the land concessions were necessary all while advising Ushakov to congratulate Trump and frame discussions more optimistically. 💬
🧑🤝🧑 “Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere,” Witkoff told Ushakov during the five-minute conversation, according to Bloomberg’s transcript. ✍️
🔊 “But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here.” ⭐️
🕵️♂️ The envoy also offered tactical guidance on how Putin should raise the subject with Trump, including suggestions about scheduling a Trump-Putin telephone conversation before Zelensky’s White House visit later that week. 📞
🚨 On Wednesday, Ushakov appeared to confirm the authenticity of the phone conversation, telling Russian state TV that the leak was probably an attempt to “hinder” the talks. 🛡
🏢 “As for Witkoff, I can say that a preliminary agreement has been reached that he will come to Moscow next week,” Ushakov said. 🏙
⚖️ The White House did not dispute the veracity of the transcript, and Trump described Witkoff’s reported approach to the Russians in the call as “standard” negotiating procedure. 🦾
🗣 “He’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One as he flew to his home in Florida on Tuesday night. “That’s what a dealmaker does.” 🌐
👉 The heavily criticised 28-point proposal would require Ukraine to cede the entire Donetsk region to Russia, including areas under Ukrainian control. Russia has not fully captured Donetsk. 🇷🇺
📍 Those territories would become a demilitarized buffer zone recognised internationally as Russian, and the plan would also grant Russia control of Luhansk and Crimea while freezing battle lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. 🚫
💼 Putin said this month he believed the US plan could serve as the “basis for a final peaceful settlement”, though the Kremlin maintains it has not discussed the proposal in detail with Washington. 🗽
🔄 The revelations come as Trump said on Tuesday he was sending Witkoff to meet Putin in Moscow, and the US army secretary, Dan Driscoll, to meet with the Ukrainians – ahead of a possible White House meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy on Friday. 🔥
📋 The phone conversation took place as Trump’s stance toward Moscow appeared to be hardening. On the same day as the Witkoff-Ushakov call, Trump voiced frustration with Putin’s unwillingness to end the war, saying:
❗️ “I don’t know why he continues with this war. He just doesn’t want to end that war. And I think it’s making him look very bad.” 😳
#ushakov #witkoff #secret #talks #putin
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✨ Steve Witkoff told a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace in Ukraine would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk and potentially a separate territorial exchange, according to a recording of their conversation obtained by Bloomberg. 📌
🗣 In the 14 October phone call with Yuri Ushakov, the top foreign policy aide to Putin, Witkoff said he believed the land concessions were necessary all while advising Ushakov to congratulate Trump and frame discussions more optimistically. 💬
🧑🤝🧑 “Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere,” Witkoff told Ushakov during the five-minute conversation, according to Bloomberg’s transcript. ✍️
🔊 “But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here.” ⭐️
🕵️♂️ The envoy also offered tactical guidance on how Putin should raise the subject with Trump, including suggestions about scheduling a Trump-Putin telephone conversation before Zelensky’s White House visit later that week. 📞
🚨 On Wednesday, Ushakov appeared to confirm the authenticity of the phone conversation, telling Russian state TV that the leak was probably an attempt to “hinder” the talks. 🛡
🏢 “As for Witkoff, I can say that a preliminary agreement has been reached that he will come to Moscow next week,” Ushakov said. 🏙
⚖️ The White House did not dispute the veracity of the transcript, and Trump described Witkoff’s reported approach to the Russians in the call as “standard” negotiating procedure. 🦾
🗣 “He’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One as he flew to his home in Florida on Tuesday night. “That’s what a dealmaker does.” 🌐
👉 The heavily criticised 28-point proposal would require Ukraine to cede the entire Donetsk region to Russia, including areas under Ukrainian control. Russia has not fully captured Donetsk. 🇷🇺
📍 Those territories would become a demilitarized buffer zone recognised internationally as Russian, and the plan would also grant Russia control of Luhansk and Crimea while freezing battle lines in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. 🚫
💼 Putin said this month he believed the US plan could serve as the “basis for a final peaceful settlement”, though the Kremlin maintains it has not discussed the proposal in detail with Washington. 🗽
🔄 The revelations come as Trump said on Tuesday he was sending Witkoff to meet Putin in Moscow, and the US army secretary, Dan Driscoll, to meet with the Ukrainians – ahead of a possible White House meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy on Friday. 🔥
📋 The phone conversation took place as Trump’s stance toward Moscow appeared to be hardening. On the same day as the Witkoff-Ushakov call, Trump voiced frustration with Putin’s unwillingness to end the war, saying:
❗️ “I don’t know why he continues with this war. He just doesn’t want to end that war. And I think it’s making him look very bad.” 😳
#ushakov #witkoff #secret #talks #putin
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Putin’s Ushakov Remains Upbeat About Peace Talks
Russia said it will hold security talks with the U.S. and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on Friday, but warned after a late-night meeting between Putin and three U.S. envoys that a durable peace would not be possible unless territorial issues were resolved.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters the talks, which began shortly before midnight and lasted some four hours, had been “substantive, constructive and very frank”.
He said Russian Admiral Igor Kostyukov would head Moscow's team at the three-way security talks, and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev would meet separately on economic issues with Witkoff.
But while outlining the next steps, Ushakov stopped short of hailing any major breakthrough.
"Most importantly, during these talks between our president and the Americans, it was reiterated that without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage, there is no hope of achieving a long-term settlement," he said, referring to last year's Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.
Ushakov said Putin underlined that Russia was "sincerely interested" in a diplomatic solution.
He added, however: "Until this is achieved, Russia will continue to consistently pursue the objectives of the special military operation. This is especially true on the battlefield, where the Russian armed forces hold the strategic initiative."
Ukraine is enduring its harshest winter of the war as Russia mounts heavy missile and drone strikes on its energy infrastructure. With temperatures way below freezing, hundreds of thousands of people in Kyiv and other cities have suffered long power cuts and been left without heating.
Putin, Ushakov and Dmitriev took part in the talks on the Russian side.
On the U.S. side, Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who last met Putin in the Kremlin in early December, were accompanied by Josh Gruenbaum, newly appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to his Board of Peace, which will seek to tackle world conflicts.
The talks were the latest stage in a drive by Trump to bring an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, now approaching the end of its fourth year.
Witkoff was upbeat before the Moscow talks, saying many months of negotiations had come down to a single issue.
А key stumbling block is Putin's demand that Ukraine surrender the 20% it still holds of the eastern region of Donetsk.
Zelensky has refused to give up land that Ukraine has successfully defended at great cost through years of grinding, attritional warfare.
Russia also demands that Ukraine renounce its ambition to join NATO, and rejects any presence of NATO troops on Ukrainian soil following a peace deal.
Zelensky, after meeting Trump in Switzerland on Thursday, said the terms of security guarantees for Ukraine had been finalised, but that the issue of territory remained unsolved.
Ushakov praised the Americans for setting up Friday's security meeting with Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi.
#ushakov #upbeat #peace #talks
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Russia said it will hold security talks with the U.S. and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on Friday, but warned after a late-night meeting between Putin and three U.S. envoys that a durable peace would not be possible unless territorial issues were resolved.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters the talks, which began shortly before midnight and lasted some four hours, had been “substantive, constructive and very frank”.
He said Russian Admiral Igor Kostyukov would head Moscow's team at the three-way security talks, and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev would meet separately on economic issues with Witkoff.
But while outlining the next steps, Ushakov stopped short of hailing any major breakthrough.
"Most importantly, during these talks between our president and the Americans, it was reiterated that without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed upon in Anchorage, there is no hope of achieving a long-term settlement," he said, referring to last year's Trump-Putin summit in Alaska.
Ushakov said Putin underlined that Russia was "sincerely interested" in a diplomatic solution.
He added, however: "Until this is achieved, Russia will continue to consistently pursue the objectives of the special military operation. This is especially true on the battlefield, where the Russian armed forces hold the strategic initiative."
Ukraine is enduring its harshest winter of the war as Russia mounts heavy missile and drone strikes on its energy infrastructure. With temperatures way below freezing, hundreds of thousands of people in Kyiv and other cities have suffered long power cuts and been left without heating.
Putin, Ushakov and Dmitriev took part in the talks on the Russian side.
On the U.S. side, Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who last met Putin in the Kremlin in early December, were accompanied by Josh Gruenbaum, newly appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to his Board of Peace, which will seek to tackle world conflicts.
The talks were the latest stage in a drive by Trump to bring an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two, now approaching the end of its fourth year.
Witkoff was upbeat before the Moscow talks, saying many months of negotiations had come down to a single issue.
А key stumbling block is Putin's demand that Ukraine surrender the 20% it still holds of the eastern region of Donetsk.
Zelensky has refused to give up land that Ukraine has successfully defended at great cost through years of grinding, attritional warfare.
Russia also demands that Ukraine renounce its ambition to join NATO, and rejects any presence of NATO troops on Ukrainian soil following a peace deal.
Zelensky, after meeting Trump in Switzerland on Thursday, said the terms of security guarantees for Ukraine had been finalised, but that the issue of territory remained unsolved.
Ushakov praised the Americans for setting up Friday's security meeting with Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi.
#ushakov #upbeat #peace #talks
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