Russia-Ukraine war updates: Kremlin says Putin, Witkoff meeting productive

Thanks for joining us.

Please catch up on our coverage of today’s talks in Moscow, here.

Read about the key events on day 1,377 of the war, here.

Or read about Russia’s claims that it captured the key city of Pokrovsk, here.

This live page will soon be closed. Here were today’s top updates:

• Russian President Putin met with US envoy Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Kushner, for a five-hour meeting in the Kremlin.
• Putin aide Yury Ushakov doused hopes of a swift breakthrough, saying the meeting was “constructive” but no compromise was reached.
• Hours earlier, Putin accused European countries of intentionally scuttling the deal by including proposals that are non-starters for Russia.
• Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said Putin was stringing along the Trump administration in the hope it would lose interest in resolving the conflict.

This was the one word Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev used to describe the nearly five-hour-long meeting between Russian and American officials that just ended.

Productive 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/YlkqF0b7tr

— Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) December 2, 2025

Russia’s state-run TASS news agency has reported that the meeting lasted about five hours.

Neither side has yet to release an official account.

Zelenskyy has said he looks forward to Irish companies’ investments, which will boost Ukraine’s resilience and help the country’s reconstruction.

“The interest of Irish companies in cooperation is strong and highly significant. We hope that in all the areas discussed today, we can deepen our joint work,” the Ukrainian president said after a meeting with representatives of the Irish business community.

He expressed hope that the interaction between Irish and Ukrainian companies will continue to grow.

Zelenskyy met earlier today with Ireland’s president in Dublin.

I met with representatives of the Irish business community. The interest of Irish companies in cooperation is strong and highly significant. We hope that in all the areas discussed today, we can deepen our joint work. We look forward to investments that will strengthen our… pic.twitter.com/GwcvoBKIfq

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 2, 2025

UK media are reporting that a British military instructor has been arrested in Ukraine for spying on behalf of Russia.

The Times newspaper and several other outlets identified the man as 40-year-old Ross David Cutmore from Dunfermline.

Cutmore arrived in Ukraine as a military instructor in 2024. Prosecutors allege he was subsequently approached by Russian intelligence officers in Odesa and given cash to provide details of Ukrainian military locations to Russia, according to the reports.

Investigators were also probing whether Cutmore had helped distribute weapons used in the assassinations of Ukrainian activists and lawmakers.

No statement yet from the Kremlin as talks between Witkoff and Putin are under way.

After Putin’s earlier remarks today ahead of the meeting, many in the West and Ukraine say that his words indicate that he does not plan to end hostilities.

Many say that the difference between the Ukrainian and Russian positions is so significant that compromise is hardly visible now.

Revenues from weapons sales and military services by the 100 largest global arms-producing companies reached a record $679bn in 2024, boosted by the Ukraine and Gaza wars, as well as global and regional geopolitical tensions and ever-higher military expenditures, according to new data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Ukraine’s JSC Ukrainian Defense Industry increased its arms revenues by 41 percent to $3bn, while Czech company Czechoslovak Group boosted revenues by 193 percent to reach $3.6bn through making artillery shells for Ukraine.

European arms companies have been investing in new production capacity to fight off Russia, the SIPRI report said, but it cautioned that sourcing materials – particularly in the case of dependence on critical minerals – could pose a “growing challenge” as China also tightens export controls.

Rostec and United Shipbuilding Corporation are the only two Russian arms companies in the ranking, and they also increased their combined arms revenues by 23 percent to $31.2bn despite being hit by Western-led sanctions over the Ukraine war.

Read more here.

As far as that cabinet meeting is concerned, [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio, the last speaker, did mention Ukraine, and said, “Look, this isn’t our war, and we’re trying to end it”

What was significant about that? Firstly, that’s very much the JD Vance faction’s policy of “It’s time to end this, it’s time to get out.”

Marco Rubio is seen as on the other side of that, the more hawkish, neoconservative, more friendly to Europe side.

For him to say that was quite interesting, as well as the fact that he was even in Washington, he’s not joining the NATO meeting of foreign ministers on Wednesday.

The Trump administration is all about factions, so is Rubio’s faction a little bit on the outs right now?

Zelenskyy is confronting his most serious political test since Russia’s invasion.

Elected in 2019 on a promise to root out corruption, he now finds himself entangled in a $100m scandal involving government officials, ministers and businessmen accused of arranging kickbacks through the state nuclear energy company.

In a country at war, what does this mean for public morale — and how are Ukraine’s donors in the EU and beyond reacting?

Watch the full episode here.

Here are the latest updates:

• A meeting between Russian President Putin, US envoy Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner has stretched on for more than three hours.
• Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has expressed tempered optimism over the talks, even as he said the current proposal on the table is incomplete. He also expressed fear that the US would “lose interest” in the peace process.
• Putin has accused European countries of intentionally scuttling truce efforts in their amendments to the initial US proposal. Putin also said that if Europe wants war, Russia is “ready” to fight.
• Russia and Ukraine have given diverging accounts on whether the strategic city of Pokrovsk has fallen to Russian forces.

The MIDVOLGA-2 has arrived in the northern province of Turkiye after it said it was attacked by a drone in international waters in the Black Sea.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for the attack, a charge Kyiv has flatly denied.

The vessel was escorted by teams from the Turkish Coast Guard Black Sea Regional Command after entering Ankara’s territorial waters.

In response, Putin said earlier today Russia would increase attacks on Ukrainian ports and vessels. He also said Russia would take “measures” against tankers aiding Ukraine.

There have been few updates since the meeting between Putin, Witkoff and Kushner began.

That was over three hours ago.

However, Russian state media has published video of both sides exchanging pleasantries at the top of the meeting.

“So pleased to see you again,” Putin said via a translator. “You’ve had a walk around the city?”

“It’s a magnificent city,” Witkoff replied.

As we wait for the meeting to be over, here are a few fun facts about the long white table around which Putin and Witkoff were photographed.

• The 6-metre (20-foot) piece of wood had a moment of global fame in 2022, when a picture of Putin sitting on the opposite end of the table from French President Emannuel Macron spawned countless memes on social media. The French leader was on a diplomatic mission to try and solve the growing tensions ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The scene of Putin and Macron seated so far apart prompted Twitter users to edit the images to depict the table as an ice-rink, a tennis court, a seesaw and even as the one used in the Leonardo da Vinci painting The Last Supper.
• The table was made in Italy by small family firm Oak, which has also furnished dozens of other rooms in the Kremlin.
• Renato Pologna, the owner of the firm, said the table was just one of many items Oak made for the Kremlin under contract in 1995-1997.
• Under the 1990s contract, Oak decorated some 7,000 square metres (75,350 square feet) of the Kremlin, spread out over two floors, including the president’s private residence.
• The contract was worth 40-50 million euros ($46-58m), with all the furniture built in Italy and then flown to Russia, where it was passed through giant scanners to check for bugging devices, before being carried into the Kremlin.

Ahead of the meeting with Witkoff and Kushner, Putin gave an address at the VTB Investment Forum in Moscow and then stopped to speak to reporters.

Here are some of his comments:

• Putin accused Europeans of intentionally hindering US efforts to end the war, saying they deliberately included demands that were “absolutely unacceptable” to Russia.
• He alleged that Europeans want war, saying “If Europe suddenly wants to fight with us and starts, we are ready right now”.
• Putin said Russia would increase attacks on Ukrainian ports and vessels, and take measures against tankers that support Ukraine.
• He said that Russian forces were in complete control of Pokrovsk, and invited foreign journalists to visit to verify.
  

  

Russia has claimed control of Pokrovsk, a strategically significant city in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

Kyiv has denied the claim, pointing to the announcement’s timing ahead of talks between the US and Russia.

The capture of the city, if true, could help to convince US officials that Russia’s advance is inevitable, Ukrainian officials say.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands examines the claims and what they could mean on the battlefield or at the negotiating table: