Five hours of talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump’s senior negotiator appear to have failed to produce a breakthrough on securing a Ukraine peace deal.

A Kremlin spokesman said the Moscow meeting was “constructive”, but parts of the plan remained unacceptable to Russia.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner attended the talks after weeks of intensive diplomacy aimed at ending the war. The US team has not commented since leaving Moscow.

Earlier on Tuesday, Putin said changes proposed by Kyiv and Europe to a US-backed draft peace plan were unacceptable, adding if Europe “wants to go to war and starts one, we are ready right now”.

Ukraine and its allies have been lobbying the US to amend its draft peace deal, which the White House has sought to secure rapid agreement on and the Kremlin has previously indicated it was receptive to.

That plan, which was widely seen as being favourable to Russia after being leaked to the media in November, has undergone several changes in recent weeks.

Asked about the proposal after the Moscow meeting, Putin’s senior aide Yuri Ushakov said the Kremlin “agreed with some points… but some things we criticised”. He added: “We have not come up with a compromise version yet… A lot of work lies ahead.”

Key disagreements between Moscow and Kyiv remain, including over Ukraine agreeing to cede territory it continues to control and security guarantees provided by Europe.

Moscow and Ukraine’s European allies also remain starkly at odds over their expectations of what a peace settlement should look like.

Speaking ahead of the talks, Putin lashed out at leaders on the continent who have supported Kyiv’s defensive war effort since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.

He said European leaders were under the illusion they could inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. His country, he said, “wasn’t planning to go to war with Europe – but if Europe suddenly wants to go to war and starts one, we are ready right now”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expected to be briefed on the Kremlin talks by the US team after the meeting, though it was unclear whether Witkoff and Kushner would fly to Kyiv or other European capitals for further in-person negotiations.

Speaking before the Kremlin talks took place, the Ukrainian leader said on Tuesday there was an opportunity to end the war “now more than ever”, but that elements of the proposals still needed to be worked out.

“Everything depends on today’s discussions,” Zelensky told a press conference during an official visit to Ireland.

Zelensky said there were “no simple solutions”, repeating his country’s insistence that Kyiv take part in peace discussions, and that clear security guarantees be agreed, such as Nato membership – a move long opposed by Russia and ruled out by Trump.

“We have to stop the war in such a manner that in one year, Russia would not come back”, Zelensky added.

Ukrainian representatives have held two rounds of high-level talks on the draft plan in recent weeks, which have been attended by Witkoff, Kushner and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The White House said the proposals had been “very much refined” as a result, although details of the updated plan have not been confirmed.

Putin – who believes Russia has the initiative on the battlefield – had appeared immovable on his demands as recently as last week, while Zelensky has repeatedly said he would never relinquish control of eastern Ukrainian regions.

While Tuesday’s talks were under way, Trump told his cabinet in Washington that the conflict had not been easy to resolve, describing the conflict as “a mess”.

Kyiv’s European allies had countered the US-backed 28-point plan with their own document – removing many of the most contentious elements, such as Washington’s recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as de facto Russian.

Zelensky had met French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, with several European leaders joining the meeting virtually.

Macron said there was “no finalised plan to speak of” and that it could only be achieved with input from Ukraine and Europe.

Meanwhile, fighting continued on the front lines on Tuesday. Ukraine’s military said it was still engaging Russian troops in the key eastern city of Pokrovsk – contradicting Moscow’s claim to have captured it.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence shared a video on Telegram claiming to show its troops holding up flags in the strategically important city, which they have been trying to seize for over a year.

Ukraine’s eastern military command claimed Russia had tried to “flag-plant” in the city so that “propagandists” could say it had been captured. “They fled in a hurry, and the mopping up of enemy groups continues,” it said in a statement on social media.

Ukraine’s military said its forces still controlled the northern part of the city, with Russian units suffering heavy losses, while international observers also disputed Russia’s claim to the area.

The military in Kyiv also dismissed Russia’s claims to have captured the north-eastern Ukrainian border town of Vovchansk and said it had “significantly improved” its position in the northeastern city of Kupyans, which Russia claimed to have conquered a fortnight ago.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed or injured – alongside more than 14,000 civilians, according to the UN.

Civilian targets including kindergartens, hospitals and residential buildings have been destroyed or heavily damaged by nightly drone or missile attacks.

The conflict between the two ex-Soviet states stretches back to 2014 when Ukraine’s pro-Russian president was overthrown and Russia responded by annexing Crimea and supporting armed uprisings in eastern Ukraine.

“No compromise” was reached on the crucial issue of control of Ukrainian territory to end Moscow’s war, a Russian official has said, after talks between senior US officials and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner met Putin in the Russian capital on Tuesday, as the United States seeks to broker an end to the deadliest war in Europe since the Second World War.

The discussions lasted almost five hours and ended after midnight. “So far, we haven’t found a compromise, but some American solutions can be discussed,” said top Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, who attended the meeting.

Although Ushakov described the conversation as “very useful and constructive”, he stressed that “a lot of work lies ahead both in Washington and in Moscow”.

The US delegation had travelled to the Russian capital to discuss a peace plan, which Washington has updated since its earlier leaked 28-point draft was strongly criticised by Ukraine and its allies for favouring Russia.

The Kremlin has condemned Kyiv and Europe’s subsequent counter-proposal, with Putin repeatedly saying that it is “unacceptable” to his country.

Ahead of his meeting with the US officials, the Russian leader delivered bellicose remarks at an investment forum, where he claimed his nation was ready to fight against Europe.

“They are on the side of war,” Putin claimed, referring to Ukraine’s European allies. “We can clearly see that all these changes are aimed at only one thing: to block the entire peace process altogether, to make such demands which are absolutely unacceptable to Russia.”

The 73-year-old also said that Russia would increase attacks on Ukrainian ports and vessels, as well as tankers that support Kyiv, following attacks on ships carrying Russian oil off the coast of Turkiye.

Responding to his comments, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said it was clear that Putin did not want the war to end.

“Yesterday, he said he was prepared to fight through the winter. Today, he threatens sea ports and freedom of navigation,” Sybiha wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, on a visit to Ireland, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a “dignified peace” was needed.

When asked at an event in Dublin about whether he feared the US could lose interest in the peace process, he said he feared Kyiv’s allies becoming “tired”.

“It’s the goal of Russia to withdraw the interest of America from this situation,” he explained.

For his part, Trump admitted that the negotiations were difficult.

“Our people are over in Russia right now to see if we can get it settled,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting in Washington, DC. “Not an easy situation. What a mess,” he added, noting that the war was causing tens of thousands of casualties each month.

Witkoff and Kushner could meet a Ukrainian delegation as early as Wednesday, potentially in Brussels, a senior figure in Kyiv told the AFP news agency.

The flurry of diplomatic activity came as Russia claimed that it had seized Pokrovsk, a city of “special significance” in Ukraine’s Donbas.

Kyiv has denied the development, saying that Moscow wants to project the impression that Russia’s advance is inevitable.

Putin suggested on Tuesday that “from this base, from this sector, the Russian army can easily advance in any direction that the General Staff deems most promising”.

Moscow’s forces control more than 19 percent of Ukraine, up one percentage point from last year. Russia’s troops have advanced more quickly in 2025 than at any time since 2022, according to pro-Ukrainian maps cited by Reuters.

In the earlier leaked US peace proposal, Russian demands included a cap on the size of the Ukrainian army, control over the whole of the Donbas and recognition of Moscow’s presence in the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson.

Kyiv has said such concessions would amount to a “capitulation”, with Zelenskyy saying that protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity remains the “biggest challenge” in the ongoing negotiations.

A diamond-studded crystal Fabergé egg that once belonged to Russia’s imperial family has sold for a record £22.9m ($30.2m) in London.

The Winter Egg – considered one of the legendary jeweller’s most beautiful creations – was bought by an anonymous bidder on Tuesday, Christie’s auction house said.

It is decorated with 4,500 diamonds was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II in 1913 as a present to his mother.

The previous record for a Fabergé egg was £8.9m paid at auction in 2007.

“Today’s result sets a new world auction record for a work by Fabergé, reaffirming the enduring significance of this masterpiece,” Christie’s Margo Oganesian was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

The 8.2cm high (3.2in) egg was created by Carl Fabergé, based on the design of Alma Theresia Pihl, one of only two female workmasters at St Petersburg’s jewellery company.

It was carved from rock crystal and decorated with rose-cut diamonds, as well as platinum snowflake motifs.

The egg opens up to reveal a tiny basket of white quartz flowers inside.

The Fabergé house only ever made 50 eggs for Russia’s imperial Romanov family, and the Imperial Winter Egg is one of just seven left in private hands.

The others are either missing or owned by institutions or museums.

The eggs were made from 1885 until Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate in 1917.