Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that he will meet US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and entrepreneur Jared Kushner later Thursday, local media reported.
In his remarks at a meeting with the permanent members of the Russian Security Council, Putin said that he plans to meet the US representatives following his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Russia’s leading news agency Tass reported.
Putin announced that Witkoff and Kushner will visit Moscow to “continue the dialogue on the Ukrainian settlement.” Russian leader further stated that he intends to address details regarding Moscow’s participation in the Board of Peace, for which Trump has invited Putin to participate.
Earlier, Witkoff announced his plans to visit Moscow Thursday. Witkoff announced that Jared Kushner, who was present during the previous meeting between Putin and US officials, will accompany him on the visit to Moscow.
Before they arrived in Moscow, Witkoff and Kushner held a meeting with Russian President’s special representative and Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum January 20. Officials from Russia and US held a meeting behind closed doors for over two hours, which Witkoff termed very positive, Tass reported.
The proposed Board of Peace has been described by Trump as a platform that could bring together leaders directly to resolve disputes. He has argued that existing institutions have often been too slow or ineffective in stopping wars.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Russia would focus on diplomacy and not on missile strikes, blackouts, or attempts to damage Ukraine’s nuclear power plants if it genuinely wanted to end the war.
He said there is information about the sites Russia reconnoitered in preparation for strikes, stressing that everything clearly shows “diplomacy is not a priority for Russia”.
In his address to the nation, Zelensky said, “The main target for Russia is invariably our energy sector. Almost 58,000 people are working around the clock in repair crews on power grids and generation facilities, and on the heating network alone. Resources from Ukrzaliznytsia and other state-owned companies have been involved. For Kyiv, where the situation is very difficult, an additional 50 crews from all over the country have been involved.”
“There are still houses without heating, and for them, the necessary equipment and crews are being sent to each house manually. It is also difficult in the Kyiv region, especially in the northern part of the region, also in the Boryspil district. Also in border and front-line regions, where repairs to networks and repairs to facilities are complicated by virtually constant shelling and constant strikes. These are Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Dnipro, and Zaporizhia regions – special attention is paid to these regions. There was a lot of work in Poltava and Odessa to stabilise the energy situation,” he added.
Zelensky further said that the Ukrainian delegation, which included the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Rustem Umerov, reported on meetings with representatives of US President Donald Trump.
“There have already been several rounds of negotiations – they are working on documents that are needed to end the war. It is important that the Ukrainian team fully informs the American side about what is happening in Ukraine and about the constant Russian attacks on our energy system,” he stated.
IANS
