Putin Tells Trump's Envoys Russia's Only Line With Ukraine Is the State Border as Kremlin Talks Open

President Trump's envoys sat down with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday, carrying the results of two days of talks in Abu Dhabi and hoping to push the war in Ukraine closer to an end, the Associated Press reported.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were met at Moscow's Vnukovo airport by Kirill Dmitriev, a top Kremlin envoy, according to The Epoch Times. It is Witkoff's 10th meeting with Putin. Ukrainian outlets, citing Russian media, reported that Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov, negotiator Vladimir Medinsky and Dmitriev joined the Russian side.

Early accounts from Russian media, relayed by Ukrainian outlets, described a mix of courtesy and hard lines. Putin reportedly asked the envoys to thank President Trump for organizing the contacts between Russia and Ukraine, said there had been progress on the humanitarian track, and asked them to thank First Lady Melania Trump for her role in a humanitarian effort involving the occupied town of Oleshky. Witkoff reportedly said the planned prisoner exchange shows progress toward a settlement.

On territory, Putin gave no ground. According to the Russian state news agency TASS, as reported by the Ukrainian site Glavnoe, Putin said, "For Russia, there is only one demarcation line with Ukraine — the state border". He also claimed that Russian forces control the city of Kostiantynivka and proposed a humanitarian mission there, said Russia would need five days to clear mines, and warned that any foreign troops in Ukraine would be legitimate targets. Witkoff said the Europeans had been informed about the Abu Dhabi contacts, and Kushner said the United States has begun talks with European governments on Europe's security architecture, TASS reported.

No agreements from the Kremlin meeting had been announced in the early reports.

The Moscow visit follows two days of talks in Abu Dhabi that ended Wednesday, the first direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine since February. The second day lasted less than two hours, Bloomberg reported.

The clearest result was humanitarian. Kushner wrote on X that the sides had agreed in principle to the largest prisoner exchange of the war. A Russian General Staff official said the swap would exceed 1,000 people on each side and could take place within two to three weeks, Bloomberg reported. Ukraine's lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, called the exchange the main result and said teams were finalizing details. President Zelensky had said earlier that an exchange of 1,000 to 1,500 people per side was under consideration.

On the big questions, the two sides remain far apart. Medinsky said European security arrangements were the central topic and summed up the talks this way: "We found common ground on some issues, but not on others". A senior Ukrainian official told Bloomberg there were no results on Russia's territorial demands, including a Ukrainian withdrawal from the Donbas, and another member of Kyiv's team said the Russian delegation was working under strict directives.

From Moscow, Witkoff and Kushner plan to travel to Dublin to brief Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ushakov said, according to Bloomberg. Kushner said the envoys want to further explore ideas raised in Abu Dhabi, and one goal of the Putin meeting is to see whether European countries can join the negotiating format. Moscow wants more progress before deciding on any meeting between Putin and Zelensky.

The Trump team's diplomacy is producing real humanitarian results: the largest prisoner exchange of the war would bring more than 2,000 people home to their families. That matters for families on both sides of the front.

But Putin's line on the border is a reminder of what the President's negotiators are up against. A Kremlin that insists its only line is the state border is not yet negotiating for peace on terms Ukraine or its Western partners can accept. Patience and pressure will both be needed before the guns fall silent.