US envoys meet Putin in Moscow as he calls foreign troops legitimate targets
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are meeting Vladimir Putin in Moscow, while Putin calls foreign troops in Ukraine legitimate targets and Witkoff hopes for wider talks with Europeans.
How it was covered
- BBC News carried 61% of the airtime and concentrated on Zelensky in Dublin and Starshield speed limits on the front line.
- BBC One concentrated on Putin's warnings and Witkoff's hope for wider trilateral talks.
- Sky News concentrated on the planned Moscow trip, prisoner exchange and post-war security guarantees.
- Channel 5, BBC Two, ITV and GB News: not found in tracked broadcasts.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story. Facts only one channel reported are attributed to it.
US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are meeting Vladimir Putin in Moscow for the latest round of talks aimed at ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sky News, reporting before the meeting, said the two men would travel to Moscow the next day after fresh talks on the war.
Sky News reported that Kushner said the two parties had been able to agree to the largest exchange of prisoners of war. It also reported that the US team would fly to Dublin afterwards to meet President Zelensky, and that the discussions covered post-war security, including de-confliction and monitoring a ceasefire. According to Sky News, Kushner said implementation of post-war security would not happen until there was agreement on territory and on all other bilateral issues.
On the day of the Moscow meeting, BBC News reported that the US envoys had been at the Kremlin while Zelensky was in Dublin for the European Political Community summit. Zelensky complained that renewed speed restrictions on Starshield, the military version of SpaceX's satellite communications service, were hampering Ukraine's defence. BBC News reported that he said shooting down Shahed drones was much harder without the network's speed and that the entire front line had been affected.
Channel 4 reported that Russia's assault continued, with a strike on Kyiv hitting a residential building and killing one woman and injuring seven people. At the Kremlin, BBC One reported that Witkoff said he hoped it would be possible to announce a new round of trilateral talks with the Europeans.
Putin, speaking on Russian state television as the talks began, said foreign troops in Ukraine were a legitimate target for Russian forces and threatened Russia's national security, according to BBC One. BBC One reported that he also said Russia would like America to work with Europe and for Europeans to decide whether they wanted war or peace. BBC One's Russia editor Steve Rosenberg said the big question was whether the US envoys could persuade Putin to broaden the talks to include European representatives, something Russia had opposed until now.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Widely reported · 3 or more of 4 channels | ||||
| Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff planned to travel to Moscow the next day to meet President Putin. | Reported by BBC News | Reported by BBC One | ||
| The talks produced an agreed prisoner of war exchange, which Jared Kushner described as the largest such exchange. | Reported by BBC News | Reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | |
| Reported by a few · 2 channels | ||||
| After Moscow, the US team planned to fly to Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Zelensky. | Reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | |
| US envoys were in Moscow for peace talks while Zelensky met European leaders in Dublin. | Reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News |
| Zelensky said Starshield speed restrictions were hampering Ukraine's defence, with the speed limit reported to have returned to 161 km/h (100 mph). | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Sky News | ||
| Only on one channel | ||||
| A strike on Kyiv hit a residential building, killing one woman and injuring seven. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Putin said foreign troops in Ukraine were a legitimate target for Russian forces. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Putin said Russia wanted the US to cooperate with Europe and for Europeans to choose between war and peace. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Steve Witkoff said he hoped a new round of trilateral talks with European parties could be announced. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Talks covered post-war security, including de-confliction and ceasefire monitoring. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Reported by Sky News |
| Zelensky met European leaders in Dublin. | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Zelensky warned against any US decision that treated Ukrainian territory as not Ukrainian. | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by Sky News | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Sky News reported the story a day before the Moscow meeting, concentrating on the planned journey by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff and the diplomatic groundwork. It highlighted a promised prisoner exchange and detailed discussion of post-war security, including de-confliction and ceasefire monitoring. It did not carry the later Kremlin exchanges or Putin's remarks.
- “US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are to travel to Moscow tomorrow to meet President Putin.”
- “the two parties were able to agree to the largest exchange of prisoners of war”
- “the implementation of post-war security will not occur until there's an agreement on territory and on all other bilateral issues”
BBC News kept the Kremlin meeting as a brief top line and moved quickly to Zelensky at the European Political Community summit in Dublin. Its detailed Ukraine coverage focused on his complaint that US Starshield speed restrictions were hurting drone interception and the front line, and on his call for new sanctions. It did not report Putin's remarks from Moscow.
- “Our US envoys have been at the Kremlin but this is President Zelensky seeking with European leaders in Dublin.”
- “we have detected speed restrictions on Star Shield on our Ukrainian territory again in the temporary occupied parts of Ukraine”
- “without the speed of that network working, shooting down Shaheds is very difficult”
Channel 4 gave a compact summary that paired the Moscow talks with the continuing Russian assault on Ukraine. It led with the envoys meeting Putin, then reported a deadly strike on Kyiv and Zelensky's complaint about Starshield speed restrictions. The rest of the bulletin moved to Gaza and the UK economy.
- “US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are meeting Vladimir Putin in Moscow for the latest round of peace talks.”
- “This strike on Kiev hit a residential building and left one woman dead and seven injured.”
- “President Zelensky has complained this morning that his country's defense is being hampered by renewed restrictions on the speed of Starshield, the military version of Elon Musk's SpaceX satellite communications service.”
BBC One carried live coverage from Moscow and made Putin's latest remarks the centre of the story. It reported Witkoff's hope for a new round of trilateral talks with Europeans while highlighting Putin's warning that foreign troops in Ukraine are legitimate targets and his pressure on Europe. Its Russia editor framed the key question as whether the US envoys could widen the talks to include European representatives.
- “in the last few minutes the US envoy Steve Witkoff has said He hopes that it will be possible to announce a new round trilateral talks with the Europeans”
- “foreign troops in Ukraine are a legitimate target for Russian forces”
- “Russia would like America to work with Europe and would like the Europeans To just decide what they want war or peace”
Who was on air
People and organisations each channel put on air while covering this story. Channels' own presenters and reporters are not listed. Names as transcribed, and the list can miss people.
- 12:03 GMT
President Zelensky, President
BBC News Now · Thu 12 Nov - 12:15 GMT
Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Ukrainian parliament
BBC News Now · Thu 12 Nov
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.