LONDON — A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday was described as "useful" by the Kremlin's top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov. However, Ushakov noted that no compromise plan was established after the lengthy discussions in Moscow.

Ushakov, who attended the meeting alongside Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, stated that while Russia could agree with some aspects of the U.S. proposal, there were significant disagreements as well.

This meeting follows a series of discussions between U.S. and Ukrainian officials aimed at revising the original peace plan presented by the Trump administration to Ukraine last month. Witkoff, Kushner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with a Ukrainian delegation in Florida on Sunday to explore a potential agreement that could be acceptable to both Ukraine and Russia to end the ongoing conflict.

"The president did not hide our critical and even negative attitude towards a number of proposals," Ushakov said after the meeting. He emphasized that territorial issues remain the "most important issue" in the negotiations.

Currently, there are no plans for a meeting between Putin and Trump, with Ushakov indicating that such a meeting would depend on progress toward a peace settlement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed that Ukraine would await signals from the U.S. delegation following their discussions in Russia.

Zelenskyy stated on social media, "The U.S. delegation intends to brief us directly immediately after those meetings. The next steps will depend on those signals," adding that he is "ready for a meeting" with Trump.

A source familiar with the talks indicated that the Ukrainian side anticipated Putin would respond with a "Yes, but..." and confirmed that this expectation was met. The source remarked, "Now the question is what exactly the 'but' is, and how the Americans will respond."

Before the meeting, Putin warned that Russia was prepared for a potential conflict if Europe pursued one. He accused European nations of attempting to alter Trump's proposal to resolve the war in Ukraine, stating, "We can clearly see that these changes are aimed at only one thing: to block the entire peace process."

Putin reiterated, "We are not going to fight Europe, I have said this a hundred times. But if Europe suddenly wants to fight and starts, we are ready right now." He added that Russia would be open to negotiations with Europe if they acknowledged the realities on the ground regarding Ukraine.

Ahead of the meeting, the White House expressed optimism about the ongoing negotiations. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated, "I think the administration feels very optimistic," following the Florida discussions.

The top Ukrainian official present at the Florida talks noted that while progress had been made, some issues still required further refinement. The Kremlin had announced that a meeting between Witkoff and Putin was scheduled for Tuesday, with Putin preparing by consulting with military commanders and a governor of a frontline territory in recent days.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov remarked, "We have no doubt that this will be a very important step towards peace and a peaceful settlement." However, there was little expectation that Putin would agree to a deal during this meeting.