Europeans accuse Putin of feigning interest in peace after talks with US envoys

KYIV: Ukraine and its European allies accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday of feigning interest in peace efforts after five hours of talks with US envoys at the Kremlin produced no breakthrough.

The Russian leader “should end the bluster and the bloodshed and be ready to come to the table and to support a just and lasting peace,” said UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged Putin to “stop wasting the world’s time.”

The remarks reflected the high tensions and gaping gulf between Russia on one side and Ukraine and its European allies on the other over how to end a war that Moscow started when it invaded its neighbor nearly four years ago.

A day earlier, Putin accused the Europeans of sabotaging the US-led peace efforts — and warned that, if provoked, Russia would be ready for war with Europe.

Since the 2022 invasion, European governments, along with the US, have spent billions of dollars to support Kyiv financially and militarily. Under President Donald Trump, however, the US has tempered its support — and instead made a push to end the war.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Tuesday’s talks at the Kremlin between Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were “positive,” but he wouldn’t release any details.

Witkoff and Kushner are set to meet with Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, on Thursday in Miami for further talks, according to a senior Trump administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Trump said Witkoff and Kushner came away from their marathon session with Putin confident that he wants to find an end to the war. “Their impression was very strongly that he’d like to make a deal,” Trump said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “the world clearly feels that the possibility of ending the war exists.”

In comments from his evening address posted on Telegram, Zelensky said the effort depends on “constructive diplomacy plus pressure on the aggressor. Both components work toward peace.”