Putin calls talks with US on ending the Ukraine war ‘useful’ but also ‘difficult work’

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his five-hour talks with U.S. envoys on ending the war in Ukraine were “necessary” and “useful” but also “difficult work,” with some of the proposals unacceptable to the Kremlin.

Putin spoke to the India Today TV channel ahead of his visit to New Delhi on Thursday, and while the full interview is yet to be broadcast, Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti quoted some of Putin’s remarks.

The Russian leader’s comments come as U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared 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.The high-stakes talks are part of Trump’s renewed push to end the nearly four-year war. The peace effort has recently gathered steam, even though reconciling Russia’s and Ukraine’s “red lines” still appears to be an uphill battle.

Trump said Wednesday that Witkoff and Kushner came away from their marathon session with Putin in the Kremlin 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.

Tass quoted Putin as saying in the interview that at the talks in the Kremlin, the sides “had to go through each point” of the U.S. peace proposal, “which is why it took so long.”

“This was a necessary conversation, a very concrete one,” the Russian president said.

There were provisions that Moscow said it was ready to discuss, while others “we can’t agree to,” Putin said.

“It’s difficult work,” he added.