Russian president Vladimir Putin held more than three hours of talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow as Donald Trump’s administration stepped up efforts to broker an end to the Ukraine war. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the talks were “substantive, constructive and extremely frank”, but he gave no indication of any breakthrough. He added that “the negotiations were timely and highly useful for both sides”.
He said the US envoys “outlined a number of ideas regarding possible avenues for a settlement”, while Putin “reaffirmed Russia’s readiness to continue working with the US to find a political and diplomatic solution” to the conflict. Putin told the envoys that Russia was making “real progress” on the battlefield, and that “all the root causes of the conflict” needed to be addressed. Witkoff and Kushner have since left Moscow and are due to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday.
Putin said he had ordered Russian forces to halt strikes on Kyiv after receiving a request through diplomatic and intelligence channels, while Ukraine has said it will similarly refrain from striking Moscow through Monday. Ukraine is pushing European governments to revive plans to use some €210bn (£180.4bn) in frozen Russian central-bank assets to help finance its war effort, as Kyiv faces a €27bn (£23.2bn) defence funding gap for 2026. The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden have backed reopening the debate, while Belgium, where most of the money is held through Euroclear, remains opposed because of legal and financial risks.
Ukraine’s finance minister Sergii Marchenko has proposed moving custody of the assets from Belgium to the EU level, saying this would spread the risks across all 27 member states. Talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow went beyond efforts to end the Ukraine war, with the two sides also discussing potential major Russian-US economic projects, the Kremlin said. Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said: “Economic issues and potential major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in some detail.” He said the meeting was not simply an exchange of views over the war and described the discussions as “timely and highly useful for both sides.” Global food prices rose to their highest level since November 2022 in August, with escalating attacks in the Black Sea disrupting grain exports from both Ukraine and Russia, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said.
Russian and Ukrainian attacks on ports, grain terminals, and commercial vessels have delayed or cancelled dozens of cargoes during the peak export season. Some Asian buyers have already turned to wheat from Australia and Argentina to replace delayed Black Sea shipments, reported. The FAO’s cereal price index rose 2.2 per cent in August, while wheat prices climbed 2.6 per cent and were 15 per cent higher than a year earlier.
The agency specifically cited “persistent disruptions to Black Sea export logistics” as a factor behind the increase. A local ceasefire has taken effect around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to allow repairs to a damaged power line, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. With diesel fuel supplies under increasing strain, the damaged power line must be repaired without delay so reliable external power can be restored,” Director General Grossi said.
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