The closed-door meeting in the Kremlin lasted about three hours
Published 5 Sep, 2026 20:12
| Updated 5 Sep, 2026 22:20
US President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have left the Kremlin following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The closed-door meeting went on for about three hours, with neither party making any public statements in its immediate aftermath.
The duo had arrived in Moscow earlier on Saturday for talks aimed at settling the Ukraine conflict. Ahead of their visit, Trump said the envoys were tasked with bringing “a proposal to end the war” to Moscow and Kiev. Witkoff and Kushner are expected to set off for the Ukrainian capital shortly.
Ahead of the closed-door part of the meeting, the press was briefly allowed into the room. It was attended by presidential aide Yury Ushakov and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev. In his foreword, Putin expressed his gratitude to his American counterpart for engaging in the diplomatic effort to settle the enduring hostilities.
“While [Trump] realizes that he is facing a difficult situation, he nevertheless does not stop his efforts to resolve it and to contribute to the settlement of the Russian‑Ukrainian conflict. Today, we will discuss all its components and all its aspects, and for our part, we are also ready to inform you about our view of the situation,” Putin stated.
Witkoff conveyed deep gratitude to Putin from the family of former US Marine Robert Gilman, who had been jailed in Russia since 2022 and was released last month for “humanitarian” reasons. “They should be thanking President Trump; it was he who made the appeal,” Putin replied.
The Russian president reiterated Moscow’s commitment to stop striking Kiev over the three-day period starting at midnight on September 5. The pause is intended to enable Trump’s envoys traveling to the Ukrainian capital safely.
“I would like to note that the Ukrainian side has also significantly reduced – by an order of magnitude – the strikes on the territory of the Russian Federation, including Moscow. The Ukrainian authorities have published their call for a broader three‑day truce, but we have never agreed on this with them,” Putin stated.
Important peacemaking visit. 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/r5UQhjeMxE
— Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) September 5, 2026
Following the talks, the cavalcade carrying Witkoff and Kushner headed straight for the Vnukovo Airport in the southwest of the Russian capital. Dmitriev personally saw the envoys out, sharing photos from the airport on social media and describing their trip as an “important peacemaking visit.”
The meeting has turned out to be “substantive, constructive, and marked by a high degree of candor and mutual trust,” Ushakov told reporters shortly after Witkoff and Kushner departed from the Kremlin. During the talks, the Russian side expressed “confidence that the outlined goals [of the operation against Ukraine] will be achieved,” as well as reiterated “the necessity of addressing all the root causes of the conflict,” the presidential aide said.
Trump’s envoys have taken a “particular note” in a particular issue raised by the Russian president at the meeting, namely the fact that the “Kiev regime has ceased to conceal its true nature, embarking on reburying some of the most notorious Nazi criminals,” Ushakov said. Recently, the remains of two OUN co-founders – Andrey Melnik and Evgeny Konovalets – were exhumed in Europe and delivered to Ukraine to be reburied with honors as a part of Vladimir Zelensky’s effort to create a purported “Pantheon of outstanding Ukrainians.”
The negotiations were not confined exclusively to the Ukrainian crisis, Ushakov said, with the two sides discussing “economic matters and potential major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects” in detail.
