Putin meets Witkoff and Kushner in Kremlin, proposes Kostiantynivka evacuation

Russian President Vladimir Putin met US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on Thursday, 12 November, for about two and a half hours, the day after the first trilateral Russia-Ukraine-US talks in nine months ended in Abu Dhabi. Neither side announced a breakthrough. In the public part of the meeting Putin proposed a new humanitarian evacuation of civilians from the frontline town of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region, while the Americans said they hoped to announce a new round of talks that would "hopefully include the Europeans".

The envoys then left for Dublin, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is attending the European Political Community summit and was due to receive a briefing from them on Thursday evening.

Who was at the Kremlin meeting and how long did it last?

According to the Kremlin's official transcript, Putin was joined by his foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov, aide Vladimir Medinsky, who led Russia's delegation in Abu Dhabi, and Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Putin's special envoy for economic cooperation. TASS reported that the talks began at about 3:05 p.m. Moscow time (about 5:05 p.m. in Pakistan and 12:05 p.m. GMT) and lasted more than two hours; RIA Novosti put the length at about two and a half hours. Ushakov had held preliminary consultations with the two Americans at their hotel that morning, TASS and APA reported.

It was not the envoys' first visit: the Kremlin also hosted Witkoff and Kushner on 5 September 2026.

What did Putin propose?

In his remarks, as reported by RIA Novosti and BBC News Russian, Putin suggested repeating the kind of humanitarian operation carried out earlier in Oleshky (which Russia calls Aleshki) in occupied Kherson region. "In Donbas there is a town, Konstantinovka, where there are still about 400 to 500 civilians," he said, according to RIA Novosti's report in Russian. "Let us do the same as we did in Aleshki, and invite representatives of the foreign press, including the American press."

Putin said Russia would need five days to clear mines around the town, and proposed that Russia's human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, and Ukraine's ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, organise the mission. He claimed Russia controls Kostiantynivka and would guarantee security; "if, as the Ukrainian authorities claim, they control this city, let them provide security," he added. Control of the town is disputed, and The Daily Context could not independently verify battlefield claims by either side.

Kyiv was sceptical. Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to Zelensky, told BBC News Russian that Russia had used the Oleshky operation to rotate troops and bring in equipment, "so it is clear what they want in Kostiantynivka. But we need to find out all the details."

In the opening exchanges published by the Kremlin, Putin also thanked President Donald Trump for arranging contacts with Ukraine and US First Lady Melania Trump for her involvement in the Oleshky issue, and said "another important step" on prisoner exchanges was being planned.

What did Putin say about territory, Europe and foreign troops?

RIA Novosti summarised several further statements from Putin. He said that for Russia there is only one dividing line with Ukraine, the "state border" line. Russia's constitution now claims four Ukrainian regions, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, as Russian territory, BBC News Russian noted, which Ukraine and most of the world reject. Putin also said any peace must be lasting, that the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine would be unacceptable and that such troops would be "legitimate targets" for the Russian army.

On Europe, Putin said Moscow had never opposed dialogue and that Europeans had cut off contact themselves. He said he would like the United States to work with Europe so it could decide "whether it wants peace or war".

What did Witkoff and Kushner say?

Witkoff told Putin, in the Kremlin's English transcript: "We are resetting the trilateral talks." He called the Abu Dhabi meetings "very positive" and said the planned prisoner exchange "will be the largest one ever done" and "underscores the progress that we have been making". He added that European officials had been in the UAE, though "not at the table directly with us", and had been briefed. "We are hopeful that we can announce shortly – hopefully, even at the end of this meeting – the next trilateral meeting that will hopefully include the Europeans," he said.