That's everything we know.
Why this mattersSo why does this meeting matter? Because Witkoff isn't walking in cold.
He's carrying an updated US plan to end the war. It comes straight out of talks in Oslo, held one day ago, with Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president.
And here's the thing. Witkoff has sat across from Putin in this exact city before. Back in April last year, for more than four hours. So this isn't a first meeting. It's at least round three.
The question is whether round three goes any differently.
On Oslo: Witkoff was there in person. Kushner joined remotely, already sick. Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, called the talks positive. Alexander Stubb, Finland's president, said genuine progress was made. Jonas Gahr Støre, Norway's prime minister, said Witkoff would carry those Oslo proposals to Russia and try to set up a meeting between Trump, Zelensky and Putin.
But Russia has already drawn a line. Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said the Kremlin would listen to the proposals. He ruled out any political concessions.
And something real changed one day ago, not just talk. Zelensky said the US has switched intelligence sharing with Ukraine back on. Specifically, the early-warning data that tells Ukrainians when a ballistic missile is coming.
Zelensky says quote "that is very important for our people, for children, adults, civilians".
Kyiv had accused Washington of cutting that off. Rubio called the accusation scandalous.
So the US turned support for Ukraine back on, in public, one day before its envoy sat down with Putin.
And at the same time, Trump gave Russia something too. He recently agreed to lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports. Moscow welcomed it. Kyiv criticised it.
So Witkoff walks into that palace holding both things at once. Intelligence flowing back to Ukraine. And sanctions relief Russia just received.
Whether Putin reads that as pressure or as an opening is the whole question today.
There's a smaller thread running too. Witkoff and Kushner are also said to be pushing for the release of Stephen Hubbard. He's 72. The only American the State Department classes as wrongfully detained in Russia. Sentenced in October 2024 to six years and ten months on mercenary charges.
Getting him out is being described as a way to show Putin what deal-making actually gets him.
Nobody knows how long these talks run. Nobody knows what's being said inside that palace right now. And nobody knows if this leads to a Trump-Zelensky-Putin meeting.
Putin himself has said nothing at all.
