Zelenskyy says ready to meet Trump and that Russia is hoping US loses interest; Briton held in Ukraine on Russian spy allegations. What we know on day 1,379
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Steve Witkoff was reported to have flown out of Moscow on Tuesday night after Kremlin aides said no progress was made towards ending the Ukraine war. It came after two weeks of diplomatic chaos and haggling beginning with the Russian leaking of a 28-point wishlist that Moscow had discussed with the US, followed by frenzied efforts involving Ukraine and Europe to produce a counter-proposal more acceptable to Kyiv.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that after their five-hour meeting the two sides were “neither further nor closer to resolving the crisis in Ukraine. There is a lot of work to be done.” On Tuesday, a video feed showed Vladimir Putin asking Witkoff, Donald Trump’s envoy, about a short tour of Moscow he had taken before the meeting, with Witkoff calling it a “magnificent city”. The feed then cut out.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that he was worried the US could lose interest in the Ukrainian peace process. “If somebody from our allies is tired, I’m afraid,” Zelenskyy told an event in Dublin. “It’s the goal of Russia to withdraw the interest of America from this situation.” The Ukrainian president said he was “awaiting signals” from the US delegation after its meeting with Putin and was “ready for a meeting with President Trump. Everything depends on today’s discussions.” US reports suggested Witkoff might meet Zelenskyy after departing Moscow.
