The first reaction to the meeting came from Dimitriev, who claimed, while Wittkoff was at the US embassy in Moscow, that the talks were productive and in a post on social media he added a white dove holding an olive branch.

Productive 🕊️

— Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) December 2, 2025

For his part, Yuri Ushakov, after the meeting, claimed that Putin's talks with Vitkov were constructive, useful and substantive. According to him, no specific formulations or final solutions were discussed, but the essence of the issues. We are ready to agree on some points. Some others were the subject of  criticism. However, a useful discussion took place, said the adviser to the Russian president.

At the same time, he noted that territorial issues were also raised. As he said, no compromises have yet been reached and there is currently no planned meeting between the leaders of Russia and the United States. Nevertheless, he said that the effort to achieve a long-term peace solution will continue and revealed that Moscow has now received four more documents, in addition to Trump's original 28-point plan for resolving the issue in Ukraine.

According to him, the two sides see huge prospects for cooperation and have certainly not distanced themselves from each other. As he stressed, more work needs to be done.

Putin's show of force before the meeting

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had once again made a show of force, since while Kirill Dmitriev was showing Donald Trump's envoys, Witkoff and Kushner, around Moscow, he was quick to repeat his extremely harsh positions regarding the situation on the ground, where he wants to emerge victorious at all costs, while issuing threats both against Ukraine (that he will cut it off from the sea after the recent attacks on Russian tankers), but also against Europe. As he characteristically noted before going to the talks with the American envoys - in which European powers apparently have no place - If Europe wants to fight, Russia is ready.

Putin, once again, accused Europe of trying to undermine Trump's peace efforts by putting forward proposals that he knew were unacceptable to Russia.

They are on the side of war, Putin argued about the European powers. We clearly see that all these changes are aimed at one thing: to completely block the peace process, to put forward such demands that are absolutely unacceptable for Russia.

The Ukraine War Mess and Trump's Borderline Indifferent Attitude

This tactic of Putin's, which is essentially the stance taken by Russia as a whole on the issue of Ukraine and the countries that support Kiev, is designed so that any progress on the issue of settling the war will come in consultation with the US and the Donald Trump administration, which has made it clear that it has practically withdrawn from the conflict in Ukraine.

This is indicated by the new statements made by the US President at the start of his cabinet meeting earlier, according to which: The US is no longer involved financially in this, except for selling weapons to NATO, but they are still trying to close this issue. I have settled eight wars. This would be the ninth, and our people are now in Russia to see if we can finish it. It is not an easy situation, what can I tell you, shit. It is a war that would never have happened if I had been president, not even by any stretch of the imagination.

The US keeps Kyiv and Europe in suspense and at a distance

From the above, but also from the general stance of the US towards Ukraine and Europe in the past period - from the presentation of Trump's 28-point plan (which, as it was revealed, ultimately emerged after contacts between the same people who were meeting in the Kremlin today) to the meeting in Florida between Marco Rubio and the Witkoff-Kushners with the Ukrainian delegation (without Andriy Yermak who was removed after investigations at his home regarding the huge Energoatom corruption scandal) - it becomes clear that any contacts with Kiev and Europeans are made on something resembling the principle of need to know (on a need to know basis).

Zelensky is optimistic, but also worried

For this reason, Volodymyr Zelensky in his statements earlier from Dublin had made it clear that he expects immediate information from Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner regarding their discussion on Ukraine with Vladimir Putin, Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev in the Kremlin. Zelensky described the latest developments as the best opportunity to date to end the war, but warned that the decisions that are expected to be required will not be easy. Zelensky's reports concern the elaborate framework agreed on Sunday in Florida. In his statements, the Ukrainian president warned that there should be no bargaining in Ukraine's absence and that any peace initiative must take into account Ukrainian interests and international accountability for Russian aggression.

Will Whitkov and Kushner go to Brussels?

Correspondingly, NATO member countries, as well as Europeans, are certainly expecting an update from the US, with international agencies citing leaks according to which this update is very likely to take place at tomorrow's meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, where there is a possibility that Vitkov and Kushner will travel to meet with the Ukrainian delegation that will be there as part of the NATO-Ukraine Council. The NATO-Ukraine Council will be attended by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibikha and the head of European diplomacy Kaia Kalas. Axios claims that the two envoys will meet with Zelensky tomorrow to inform him about the talks.