Germany cites US contacts pointing to Ukraine talks interest

A German government spokesperson says contacts with Washington suggest American interest in a negotiation process, as separate reports point to a Putin-Witkoff meeting this week

A German government spokesperson said contacts with the United States suggest the Americans are interested in a negotiation process on Ukraine.

A U.S. official said U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will meet President Putin on Wednesday, with Jared Kushner joining remotely. The same official said Witkoff and Kushner have told Kyiv that Putin is unwilling to negotiate and that Moscow's precondition remains control of the rest of the Donbas.

President Trump has said Putin and President Zelenskiy do not need to be in the same room to sign a peace deal, and has said it is time for someone else to negotiate on Ukraine's behalf. Zelenskiy has accused Washington of pressing Kyiv to accept concessions over delayed Patriot missile deliveries and eased sanctions. Finland's president, after meeting Zelenskiy and Witkoff, said the three found progress toward holding a session in St Petersburg.

The German statement follows a month in which process signals have repeatedly outpaced movement on the ground. A Ukrainian delegation trip was cut short, the Witkoff-Kushner proposal has stalled, and Russia has kept describing itself as not ready to negotiate, undercutting earlier diplomatic gestures. Steps floated this month, including unfreezing Russian assets and offering diesel as an inducement, have not moved Moscow off its Donbas demand. Without confirmation from Washington or Moscow themselves, Germany's characterisation reads as another data point in a stalemate both sides have already acknowledged, rather than a change in direction.