U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, left, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, second left, Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, second right, and Trump's envoy Jared Kushner talk to each other prior to their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP)
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin held “substantive, constructive and very frank” talks with US envoys, adding that the discussions would be followed by three-way security talks with the United States and Ukraine later on Friday.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the late-night meeting in Moscow involved three US envoys and focused on security issues, as diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine gathered pace under US President Donald Trump.
“The Americans did a lot to prepare talks on security, and we hope this will lead to a settlement being found,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Ushakov said the next step agreed by both sides would be security talks in Abu Dhabi involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine.
The Kremlin said the US side shared its assessment of President Trump’s recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and that discussions also covered earlier contacts between Ukraine, the United States and European countries.
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Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said Putin had held an important discussion with the US envoys. Dmitriev, who took part in the talks along with Ushakov, posted his comments on X without giving further details.
Important Russia 🇷🇺–US 🇺🇸discussion in the Kremlin today. President Putin received Peacemakers Steven Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Josh Gruenbaum. President aide Yury Ushakov and myself also participated. 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/I3E4Op5V9i
The Kremlin said the talks also touched on President Trump’s proposals related to Greenland and the US-led Board of Peace. It added that Russia was ready to contribute $1 billion from frozen assets held in the United States to support the initiative.
Moscow said it wanted a diplomatic settlement to the conflict but would continue military action until an agreement was reached.
The Kremlin said there could be no long-term settlement unless the territorial issue was resolved in line with what it said had been agreed at an earlier Alaska summit.
It added that Russian Admiral Vladimir Kostyukov would lead Moscow’s delegation in the security talks, while US envoy Steve Witkoff and Dmitriev were expected to meet separately to discuss economic issues.
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U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, left, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, second left, Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, second right, and Trump's envoy Jared Kushner talk to each other prior to their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP) 
