Representatives of U.S. President Donald Trump — his special envoy Steve Witkoff, White House senior adviser Josh Gruenbaum, as well as Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — held a closed-door meeting late on Thursday evening, January 22, at the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin to once again discuss possible ways to end the war launched by Russia in Ukraine.

Gruenbaum, the Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at the U.S. General Services Administration, who was recently appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to the newly created “Peace Council,” took part in the negotiations for the first time.

According to the Kremlin press service, the talks lasted more than three and a half hours. From the Russian side, in addition to Putin, the meeting was attended by his aide Yuri Ushakov and the Russian president’s special representative, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev. Following the talks, Ushakov is expected to hold a telephone briefing for the media.

A previous similar meeting between Witkoff and Putin took place in early December 2025. At that time, the talks lasted five hours but did not result in a breakthrough, the dpa news agency recalls.

As reported by the TASS news agency, citing statements made by Putin ahead of the meeting, the parties planned, among other things, to discuss Russia’s invitation to the “Peace Council” created by Trump to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli and other conflicts, as well as other related issues.

Negotiations on a peaceful settlement in Ukraine are expected to continue on January 23 in Abu Dhabi. For the first time in a long while, representatives of Moscow and Kyiv will meet there directly. The United States will act as a mediator.