Moscow: Ukraine’s bid to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was a ‘key question’ of discussion during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent meeting with senior United States (US) officials, the Kremlin said on Wednesday (local time). Ukraine says it is important for it to become a NATO member to ensure its security, but Russia has repeatedly said that Kyiv must never be allowed to join the US-led alliance.

Ushakov made the remarks after Tuesday’s five-hour meeting of US officials Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner with Putin. Though, Putin’s aide maintained that the talks with the US officials have failed to end the deadlock, he said Ukraine’s NATO membership were widely discussed during the meeting. He further said the two sides failed to reach a consensus on reached territorial issues.

Ushakov also said that the Russian president has asked Witkoff to pass “a number of important political signals” directly to President Donald Trump. “They will present their findings to Trump and contact us,” Ushakov asserted.

Witkoff and Kushner will now meet the Ukrainian negotiators, including country’s former defence minister Rustem Umerov, in Miami on Thursday. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that “the world clearly feels that the possibility of ending the war exists”.

Since his return to office, Trump has pushed for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and also met Putin in Alaska in August this year. Last month, a peace proposal by the US also became public, but it was heavily criticised for favouring the Russian side as it granted some of the Kremlin’s core demands that Kyiv has rejected as nonstarters.