Putin Meets US Envoys for Crucial Ukraine Peace Talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun a meeting with three US envoys to discuss a plan to end the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin has said. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were accompanied by Josh Gruenbaum, newly appointed by US President Donald Trump as a senior adviser to his Board of Peace, which is tasked with ending international conflicts. Mr Putin greeted the Americans shortly before midnight (9pm Irish time) in Moscow after Mr Trump said a deal was "reasonably close" and Mr Witkoff said negotiations had come down to one last issue. The Kremlin said Mr Putin was joined, as at previous meetings with the US side, by his foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov and special envoy Kirill Dmitriev. A brief video clip showed Mr Putin shaking hands with the three Americans and inviting them to take their seats at a long oval table. Territory, NATO plans among issues Mr Trump has pressed hard over the past year for an end to the nearly four-year conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two. He said on yesterday that Mr Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be "stupid" if they failed to come together and get a deal done. Mr Witkoff did not name the main outstanding problem, but all sides have previously highlighted the issue of territory. In particular, Mr Putin has demanded that Ukraine surrender the 20% it still holds of the eastern region of Donetsk. Mr 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. Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner flew in from Davos, Switzerland, where they met Ukrainian officials this week, and Mr Trump met Mr Zelensky yesterday. Mr Zelensky said after the meeting that the terms of security guarantees for Ukraine had been finalised, but that the issue of territory remained unsolved. In what he called a positive sign, Mr Zelensky said negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the US would hold trilateral meetings for the first time in Abu Dhabi tomorrow and Saturday. He also said a deal was almost ready on economic recovery after the war with Russia, a key element of Ukrainian-backed proposals to push back on an earlier US peace plan seen as heavily favouring Moscow. Mr Trump, when asked what message he had for Mr Putin, replied: "The war has to end." Zelensky blasts EU in Davos speech Earlier, Mr Zelensky blasted the EU's lack of "political will" in countering Mr Putin, during a fiery address criticising some of Kyiv's top allies at the World Economic Forum. The speech to the Davos elite came minutes after Mr Zelensky had met with Mr Trump, a conversation which he said brought agreement about what post-war US security guarantees for Ukraine would look like. Mr Zelensky did not say what the security guarantees included, only that they were "done" and were ready to be signed by the leaders and ratified by the Ukrainian parliament and US Congress. But in a marked departure from his usual warm rhetoric towards the EU, Kyiv's main political and financial backers, Mr Zelensky slammed what he cast as inaction, drawing parallels with the cult film "Groundhog Day" to describe the slow progress on key areas of support for Kyiv. "What's missing: time or political will?" he said at one point, referencing delays over the establishment of a European war crimes tribunal on the Russian invasion. He also said Europe, without mentioning any single country, was failing to agree on how to address global problems. "There are endless internal arguments and things left unsaid that stop Europe from uniting and speaking honestly enough to find real solutions," Mr Zelensky told the forum. "Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers," he added. He said Europe looked "lost" over how to deal with the challenge presented by Mr Trump. "Europe looks lost trying to convince the US President to change. But he will not change. President Trump loves who he is, and he says he loves Europe, but he will not listen to this kind of Europe," he said. Russia, which occupies around 20% of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country's eastern Donbas region as part of a deal - but Kyiv has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow. We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences French navy intercepts sanctioned Russian tanker Meanwhile, the French navy intercepted a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean suspected to be ⁠part of the shadow fleet that enables Russia to export oil despite sanctions. "This operation was carried out ... with the support of several of our allies. It was conducted in full compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," French President Emmanuel Macron said on X. The interception was carried out on high seas in the Western Mediterranean, between the southern coast of Spain and the northern coast of Morocco, the French maritime police said in a separate statement. Navies of other countries, including Britain, supported the operation, the statement added. Russia adapts to sanctions The EU has imposed 19 packages of sanctions against Russia, but Moscow has adapted to most measures and continues to sell millions of barrels of oil to countries such as India and China, typically at discounted prices. Much of the oil is carried by what is known as a shadow fleet of vessels operating ⁠outside of the Western maritime industry. The tanker, named the GRINCH, was sailing from Murmansk in northern Russia and is subject to international sanctions and suspected ⁠of operating under a false flag, Mr Macron said in his post. The tanker was sailing under a Comoros flag, according to data provided by LSEG. "The activities of the ⁠shadow fleet contribute to ⁠financing (Russia's) war of aggression against Ukraine," Mr Macron added. Mr Zelensky said in a post on X that the operation was "exactly the kind of resolve needed". He suggested the oil carried by tankers of the shadow fleet be ⁠confiscated and sold.