Ukraine peace talks: US envoys meet with Putin at Kremlin

Below is a roundup of developments from the Ukraine-Russia talks on Thursday, November 12:

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner discussed their trip to Abu Dhabi this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to Russian state media RIA Novosti, Witkoff said US President Donald Trump was "seeking to end the conflict in Ukraine as quickly as possible."

The three-way talks in Abu Dhabi between the US, Ukraine and Russia were held "in a positive atmosphere" and that the Ukrainian and Russian delegations had "worked effectively," Ria Novosti reported.

Witkoff said he would convey the results of his and Kushner's meeting with Putin to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Kushner, for his part, said the US had begun discussions with European countries on the post-war "security architecture" on the continent.

He also said Europe wanted to be involved in the talks to end the conflict, RIA Novosti reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a "humanitarian mission" to the frontline city of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine, Russian state media reported.

Putin made the remarks during a meeting at the Kremlin on Thursday with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Ria Novosti said.

"There's a village in Donbas called Kostyantynivka, where there are still about 400-500 civilians. Let's do the same thing we did in Oleshky and invite representatives of the foreign press, including the American press," he said, referring to the recent US-brokered evacuation of the Russia-occupied city of Oleshky in southern Ukraine.

According to RIA Novosti, Putin also repeated Russia's demands in a potential peace deal, including its refusal to accept any foreign troops in Ukraine.

The Russian leader warned that international peacekeepers in Ukraine would become a "legitimate target for the Russian army."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Russian side is becoming more willing to accept a European seat in the trilateral talks.

Merz said he expected Putin to agree to Europeans getting a seat at the table in talks with Ukraine. He was speaking on the sidelines of the European Political Community meeting in Dublin. He added that getting Putin to negotiate is more important than naming who would be the European envoy.

"The important thing is that Russia comes to the table and that Russia is ready to talk," the German chancellor said.

He also highlighted Ukraine's importance to Europe, saying that supporting Kyiv was a "shared European responsibility."

For some time, European leaders have sought a seat at the US-mediated Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi. So far, representatives from the EU were only present on the sidelines of the talks.

Ukraine's military said on Thursday it ‌has hit ⁠Russia's five ​largest oil ​refineries since ​October 30.

Those struck were the Omsk, Kirishi, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl refineries, along with the smaller Novokuibyshevsk and Saratov refineries, the General Staff said in a Telegram post.

The statement claimed that the strikes on key refining units are shrinking revenues that help Russia fund the war.

Referring to the Omsk refinery's distance of 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that military strikes on Russian energy infrastructure would resume, despite US President Donald Trump's insistence that such attacks stop.

Trump said Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil refineries were a "disgrace" and that Zelenskyy was less willing than Putin to reach a compromise to end the war.

Russia, however, has paid no heed to Trump, instead continuing to hit Ukraine's civilian energy infrastructure.

Leaders from more than 40 European countries will gather in the Irish capital Dublin on Thursday for the European Political Community summit to discuss the continent's security and Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also attend the meeting, along with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

US mediators, Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, and special envoy Steve Witkoff are also expected to make their way to Ireland, after their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The meeting, due to begin at midday local time, is an opportunity for European leaders to discuss this week's trilateral peace talks between Ukraine, the US and Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Ukraine's military faced new "systematic restrictions" to tech billionaire Elon Musk's Starshield satellite internet.

"Our units have been recording significant disruptions to Starshield's operations over the territory of Ukraine for several days now," Zelenskyy said in an online post.

The Ukrainian president added that "systematic speed restrictions" were being imposed and that these are not "random errors."

"Unfortunately, this is helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes against Ukraine."

The Starshield military communications system — the military-grade version of satellite-based communication network Starlink — is operated by Musk's SpaceX and plays a key role for frontline communications.

Ukraine first flagged issues with Starshield last month after a dispute between Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump over a US deal allowing more Russian diesel into global markets.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk "capped the speeds at which Ukrainian hardware could stay connected to the satellite-based network."

Tech billionaire and US president both denied throttling Ukrainian access, but Musk later accused Ukraine of using the service for military purposes while Trump said Musk had "put it back."

Nearly half a million Russian soldiers may have been killed in Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. Can Russia continue fighting at such an enormous human and economic cost?

Leaked records reportedly obtained from Russia's state statistics agency, Rosstat, identify more than 412,000 deaths linked to the war. British newspaper The Guardian reports that the true death toll could be closer to 500,000.

The full dataset has not been independently verified.

Some months saw more than 500 Russian soldiers killed every day. And the losses have fallen disproportionately on Russia's poorer and more remote regions.

In this DW News interview, Janis Kluge, head of the Eastern Europe and Eurasia research division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), examines what the leaked figures reveal about Russia's military losses, recruitment crisis and war economy.

The leaked data comes as US-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine conclude in Abu Dhabi without a breakthrough on ending the war.

The two sides have agreed to a prisoner exchange, but fundamental disagreements remain. Could mounting Russian losses eventually force Putin to compromise, or make him even more determined to continue the war?

A Russian soldier has been killed in a car explosion in Saint Petersburg, the AFP news agency reported, citing the local Investigative Committee.

The cause of the blast in the Pushkinsky District is not yet known.

"An investigation into the murder of a military serviceman has been opened," the Investigative Committee said in a press release.

Russian state media agency TASS reported on a car explosion in the same district and cited a law enforcement spokesperson with information that the "car exploded" as it was moving out of a yard.

According to the spokesperson the man was alone inside the car and no one else was injured.

US mediators, Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump , and special envoy Steve Witkoff have arrived in Moscow, according to Russian news agencies.

"At Vnukovo [Airport], US President's special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were met by Russian President's special representative Kirill Dmitriev," Interfax news agency said.

"Welcoming Steve and Jared ​to Moscow," Dmitriev said on X, with an accompanying picture of himself shaking ​hands with Witkoff with Kushner standing alongside.

The pair had been in the United Arab Emirates over the past two days for trilateral peace talks.

"One of the positives is we agreed that we're going to have the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners, which we're going to finalize the numbers tomorrow," Kushner said after the Abu Dhabi talks ended.

Kushner and Witkoff are expected to address the issue of including European partners in the current trilateral format.

After meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kushner and Witkoff are expected to make their way to Ireland, where they are due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

There have been continued overnight attacks between Russia and Ukraine amid efforts to bring an end to Moscow's ongoing invasion.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Telegram that it had targeted military and energy ​facilities in Ukraine, as well as a munitions warehouse in the capital Kyiv.

The Reuters news agency reported explosions had been heard in Kyiv in the early hours of the morning, citing a witness, while a local official said that energy and civilian infrastructure had been damaged in the Rivne region.

Meanwhile, Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that Russia had shot down five drones heading towards the capital.

Drones were also reportedly shot down in other Russian regions, including Rostov and Tula.

Efforts to broker peace in Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine are continuing with US mediators now in Moscow.

Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff are due to meet with the Russian president before possibly heading on to Dublin, where they would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who is attending European meetings.

On Wednesday, Zelenskyy said there may be a "window of opportunity" to bring an end to the fighting, although the efforts to broker peace are taking place amid continued hostilities between Russia and Ukraine.

Two days of talks in the United Arab Emirates didn't yield major breakthroughs, but the two sides did agree on another prisoner exchange.

Follow here for the latest developments on the peace talks and other news from the war in Ukraine.