Kushner questions Putin’s claim Russia can seize all of Donbas within months
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Russian dictator Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Moscow with US Presidential Special Representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, September 5, 2026. (Photo: Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS)
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Jared Kushner challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that Russian forces could capture all of Ukraine’s Donbas within months, The New York Times reported on Sept. 17.
The exchange took place during Kushner and fellow U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Putin in Moscow on Sept. 5, according to the newspaper.
Putin projected confidence during the Kremlin talks and claimed Russian forces would occupy the entire Donbas within several months.
He also said Russia was prepared to strike Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, potentially creating the conditions for an extremely difficult winter, the NYT reported.
Kushner challenged Putin’s assessment.
“With all due respect, you told us the same thing a year ago,” Kushner said, according to the newspaper. “What are the chances that we come back here a year from now and you tell us the same thing again? Maybe we don’t waste a year?”
The exchange illustrates the difficulties facing Trump’s effort to negotiate an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has continued for more than a year and a half, the NYT wrote.
Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine withdraw from territory in the Donbas that Russian forces have not captured militarily.
Kushner and Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Sept. 5 before traveling to Kyiv the following day for their first visit to Ukraine as part of the latest U.S. diplomatic push.
Trump spoke with Putin on Sept. 8 after the envoys returned to the United States but did not speak with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that day.
On Sept. 9, Trump said after what he described as a “great conversation” with Putin that the Russian president was ready to reach a peace agreement and expressed hope that Zelenskyy would also agree to a deal.
Kushner later addressed the territorial dispute at the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv.
He said Putin had outlined the territorial line Moscow wanted to achieve and acknowledged that Ukraine was unwilling to withdraw to it.
“If Ukraine wanted to withdraw to that line, then obviously, you know, we have the rest of the deal set up and put together,” Kushner said. “Ukraine right now does not want to do that.”
He said Washington was seeking a “creative solution” to the territorial dispute that could allow negotiations to advance.
The status of Ukrainian-controlled territory in Donbas remains a central point of disagreement in U.S.-led efforts to restart trilateral negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and the United States.
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