Putin tells Witkoff and Kushner Russia sees one border, offers a Kostiantynivka mission

On the front line, he said Russia recognises only one dividing line, the state border as recognised internationally. He acknowledged that Ukraine has raised the idea of gray zones and said he rejected it. The statement matters because it bears directly on the territorial question that Kushner has called the hardest part of the negotiations, and because Russia has demanded that Ukraine withdraw from the Donbas land it still holds.

On foreign troops, Putin said that foreign military personnel on Ukrainian territory would be legitimate targets for the Russian army, and argued that a foreign presence threatens Russia's national security. The comment goes to the question of security guarantees for Ukraine, which the White House has said is the focus of the talks and which several European governments have discussed.

The Kostiantynivka proposal and the prisoner exchange

Putin claimed that Russia controls Kostiantynivka, a city in Donetsk region. He proposed a humanitarian mission there modelled on the one in Oleshky, with Russia guaranteeing its safety and the human rights commissioners of Ukraine and Russia overseeing its organisation. He said Russia would need five days to clear mines in the area, and that if Kyiv regards the city as under its control, Kyiv should ensure the mission's safety on its side.

Witkoff said the upcoming exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine shows progress toward a settlement. Russia and Ukraine agreed the exchange in principle in Abu Dhabi on 11 November, and Kushner said the final numbers would be settled on Thursday. The only figures given so far are Ukrainian: 1,000 prisoners from each side, possibly rising to 1,500 each. Putin was not reported commenting on the exchange.

The week's sequence helps to read the Kremlin meeting. The first day of the Abu Dhabi talks on 10 November lasted about four hours, and Ukraine's presidency said it was mainly humanitarian. The second day ended on 11 November with the prisoner exchange agreed in principle and no ceasefire or territorial deal. The Kremlin meeting on 12 November then put Russia's positions on the border and on foreign troops directly to the American envoys. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, had said that a call between Putin and President Donald Trump was not planned for the time being, which means the envoys are the main channel for the moment. The last time the sides met before Abu Dhabi, in Geneva in February, the talks ended in stalemate.

Europe, and what comes next

Witkoff said European representatives did not take part directly in the Abu Dhabi talks but were briefed on the contacts. Kushner said Washington has begun discussions with European countries about Europe's security architecture and sees European interest in joining negotiations and ending the war. Moscow has been cool about a European role, and Medinsky said on Wednesday that Russia had received no concrete proposals from Europe.

Zelensky, who followed the second day of the Abu Dhabi talks by video link from Copenhagen, called it constructive and quite substantive and said the first step must be ending the war and providing security guarantees for Ukraine.

The envoys were to fly on to Dublin to brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has said that decisions on territory must be made by leaders and that a ceasefire should come first. Putin's remarks on the border and on foreign troops will be the first things Kyiv has to answer. The things to watch are the final size of the prisoner exchange, whether the Kostiantynivka proposal gets a reply, and whether either side moves on the Donbas, where the positions are as far apart as before the talks began.