Stark differences in US and Russian statements after Moscow talks cast new uncertainty over peaceful resolution to crisis, say analysts
By Published: Dec 04, 2025 06:01 PM
A five-hour meeting between Russia and US that ended after midnight on Wednesday failed to produce a compromise plan for settling the Ukraine crisis, the Xinhua News Agency reported. The stark differences in the US and Russian expressions cast fresh shadow of uncertainty over the resolution of the crisis, some Chinese analysts reached by the Global Times on Thursday noted.
US President Donald Trump said on local time Wednesday that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner had a "reasonably good meeting" with Russian President Vladimir Putin during high-stakes negotiations in Moscow, and claimed that US negotiators believed Putin "would like to end the war," ABC News reported on Thursday.
However, Putin's top foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who was in the room for the Moscow meeting and spoke to Russian media afterward, said that "So far no compromise option has been found, but some American proposals appear more or less acceptable," per the same report.
According to the TASS News Agency of Russia, Ushakov also said that the talks were "useful." He also underscored that Russia is currently negotiating with the US on Ukrainian settlement through closed-door talks and that the successes of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine have positively impacted the Russia-US negotiations.
According to the Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday, the Russian presidential aide said that without territorial issues, "we see no resolution to the [Ukraine] crisis." Ushakov also said that Russia could agree to some of the US proposals while remaining critical of a number of others.
TASS reported that the issue of Ukraine's membership of NATO was discussed, citing Ushakov as saying that "This is one of the key issues. It was discussed."
The stark differences in the US and Russian statements after the meeting cast a fresh shadow of uncertainty over the possibility of a resolution to the Ukraine crisis, some Chinese analysts told the Global Times on Thursday.
There are positive facets of the contact, as the two sides could agree on certain points. But meanwhile Russia insists on addressing key issues such as territory based on the reality of its battlefield success, while the US has shown a waning enthusiasm in facilitating the crisis, which has increased the anxiety of the other parties involved - Ukraine and Europe, Zhang Hong, research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.
According to ABC, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was not part of the US delegation sent to Moscow, said on Fox News that it's up to both Ukraine and Russia to settle their differences to reach a durable and lasting peace. "And at the end of the day, it's not up to us. It's not our war. We're not fighting it; there aren't American soldiers. It's on another continent. We are engaged because we're the only ones that can," he claimed.
Such comments could reflect the current US administration's waning enthusiasm after multiple rounds of mediaction efforts and that it does not consider that a NATO issue is necessarily a US one, Zhang said.
It's unclear which peace plan was presented to the Russians after details of an initial 28-point plan were presented to Ukraine last month, ABC said. Kiev and its European allies worked quickly to amend it down to a 19-point plan. None of the parties involved in the negotiations this week has detailed the current version of the proposal, per the report.
Witkoff and Kushner invited Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov to Miami on US local time Thursday for further peace talks, according to a senior US administration official.
According to Chinese observers, it is highly likely the US will brief Kiev on the outcomes of the Moscow talks. However, they pointed out such mechanism has so far not proven to be effective to substantial progress.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X on Thursday that "We're preparing meetings in the US - after the American team returns from Moscow and following the relevant consultations in Washington - Rustem Umerov, Andrii Hnatov, along with the rest of the negotiating team, will continue discussions with envoys of President Trump."
"A dignified peace is only possible if Ukraine's interests are taken into account," Zelensky said in the post.
It is increasingly probable that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine will have to be settled on the battlefield, and it seems very difficult for a deal to be reached that can balance the interests demanded by all parties, Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump said on local time Wednesday that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner had a "reasonably good meeting" with Russian President Vladimir Putin during high-stakes negotiations in Moscow, and claimed that US negotiators believed Putin "would like to end the war," ABC News reported on Thursday.
However, Putin's top foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who was in the room for the Moscow meeting and spoke to Russian media afterward, said that "So far no compromise option has been found, but some American proposals appear more or less acceptable," per the same report.
According to the TASS News Agency of Russia, Ushakov also said that the talks were "useful." He also underscored that Russia is currently negotiating with the US on Ukrainian settlement through closed-door talks and that the successes of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine have positively impacted the Russia-US negotiations.
According to the Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday, the Russian presidential aide said that without territorial issues, "we see no resolution to the [Ukraine] crisis." Ushakov also said that Russia could agree to some of the US proposals while remaining critical of a number of others.
TASS reported that the issue of Ukraine's membership of NATO was discussed, citing Ushakov as saying that "This is one of the key issues. It was discussed."
The stark differences in the US and Russian statements after the meeting cast a fresh shadow of uncertainty over the possibility of a resolution to the Ukraine crisis, some Chinese analysts told the Global Times on Thursday.
There are positive facets of the contact, as the two sides could agree on certain points. But meanwhile Russia insists on addressing key issues such as territory based on the reality of its battlefield success, while the US has shown a waning enthusiasm in facilitating the crisis, which has increased the anxiety of the other parties involved - Ukraine and Europe, Zhang Hong, research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.
According to ABC, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was not part of the US delegation sent to Moscow, said on Fox News that it's up to both Ukraine and Russia to settle their differences to reach a durable and lasting peace. "And at the end of the day, it's not up to us. It's not our war. We're not fighting it; there aren't American soldiers. It's on another continent. We are engaged because we're the only ones that can," he claimed.
Such comments could reflect the current US administration's waning enthusiasm after multiple rounds of mediaction efforts and that it does not consider that a NATO issue is necessarily a US one, Zhang said.
It's unclear which peace plan was presented to the Russians after details of an initial 28-point plan were presented to Ukraine last month, ABC said. Kiev and its European allies worked quickly to amend it down to a 19-point plan. None of the parties involved in the negotiations this week has detailed the current version of the proposal, per the report.
Witkoff and Kushner invited Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov to Miami on US local time Thursday for further peace talks, according to a senior US administration official.
According to Chinese observers, it is highly likely the US will brief Kiev on the outcomes of the Moscow talks. However, they pointed out such mechanism has so far not proven to be effective to substantial progress.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X on Thursday that "We're preparing meetings in the US - after the American team returns from Moscow and following the relevant consultations in Washington - Rustem Umerov, Andrii Hnatov, along with the rest of the negotiating team, will continue discussions with envoys of President Trump."
"A dignified peace is only possible if Ukraine's interests are taken into account," Zelensky said in the post.
It is increasingly probable that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine will have to be settled on the battlefield, and it seems very difficult for a deal to be reached that can balance the interests demanded by all parties, Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday.
RELATED ARTICLES
