US Envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff Arrive in Moscow for Ukraine Peace Talks

United States presidential envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff traveled to Moscow on Thursday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The visit follows two days of negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which wrapped up without a visible breakthrough on ending the nearly five-year conflict.

Abu Dhabi Negotiations and Prisoner Exchange

The recent talks in the United Arab Emirates marked the first direct engagement of their kind between the delegations in nine months. While the discussions concluded without a definitive resolution to the broader hostilities, participants reached an agreement on a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war. Ukrainian negotiators noted progress on security matters, though senior negotiator Rustem Umerov cautioned that significant differences remained. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered a muted welcome to the prisoner swap as a positive step, while firmly maintaining that his country will not cede Russian-occupied territory in exchange for peace.

Future Format and European Involvement

Following their discussions in Moscow, Kushner stated that he and Witkoff plan to travel to Dublin, Ireland, to brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A key focus of the American envoys' diplomatic push is to include European nations in the direct peace negotiations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated that European representatives could eventually join talks, though he criticized current European statements. Meanwhile, Moscow has consistently resisted European involvement, and major hurdles remain regarding postwar security guarantees, the fate of occupied lands, and regional defense arrangements.