US Envoys Meet Putin After Abu Dhabi Talks
Witkoff and Kushner arrive in Moscow to discuss prisoner swaps and postwar security terms with the Russian president.
By Amina Howard ·
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vice President-elect Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Thursday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The trip follows a two-day mediation session in Abu Dhabi that concluded on Wednesday. The U.S. delegation aims to present the outcomes of those talks to the Kremlin leadership.
The negotiations in the United Arab Emirates produced an agreement for a broad exchange of prisoners of war. However, the parties did not reach a visible advance toward ending the nearly five years of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. Witkoff and Kushner both attended the sessions in Abu Dhabi before traveling to Moscow.
After the meeting with Putin, Kushner stated that the U.S. team will fly to Dublin, Ireland. There, they plan to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This sequence of meetings reflects the effort to keep both sides engaged in the diplomatic process.
Zelenskyy offered a moderate response to the results from Abu Dhabi. He described the proposed prisoner exchange as a positive step. At the same time, he insisted that Ukraine will not cede territory currently occupied by Russia in exchange for peace.
The two delegations met for the first time in nine months. While the sides have exchanged prisoners in the past, they remain far apart on the terms for a peace agreement. Key obstacles include the fate of occupied Ukrainian land and the role of European nations in any final deal.
Moscow has resisted direct participation from European countries, who are concerned about Russian conduct in the continent. Kushner indicated that one goal of the Moscow meeting is to incorporate European representatives into the conversations. He noted that Ukraine and Russia need clarity on postwar security arrangements. He added that the European Union and NATO must participate in those discussions to build consensus.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that European representatives could join peace talks later. He added that their current statements do not indicate a desire to help advance the path to peace. Moscow has complained that Europe finances and supplies armament to Ukraine. European officials state that security discussions can only begin after a ceasefire. Many in Europe view including Russia in those plans as a concession to Putin, who has described NATO expansion as a primary security threat.
