US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking his approval to bring European representatives into negotiations to end the Ukraine War.
The pair landed at Vnukovo Airport this morning and were met by Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy, Reuters reported. The agency said it would be Witkoff’s 10th in-person meeting with the Russian leader.
In September the two men shuttled between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky within 48 hours. This time they arrived straight from two days of US-mediated trilateral talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on November 10-11.
Those were the first such negotiations since February. Their main result was an agreement in principle on a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war, while differences remained over territory, post-war security guarantees and the role Europe should play.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi on November 11, Kushner said the meeting with Putin would seek his “blessing” for a multilateral format with direct European participation. He said Washington had told the Russian leader several times that a deal could only be done with the Europeans at its side.
Kushner also challenged Europe to get its own house in order. He said it would be a bigger achievement for Europe to name a single person to speak on its behalf than for Russia to agree to include it in the talks.
European envoys, together with officials from the European Union and NATO, were in Abu Dhabi but were kept away from the main negotiating table. The Ukrainian delegation briefed them separately.
Moscow has shown little appetite for a broader format. Vladimir Medinsky, the Kremlin aide who led the Russian delegation, told reporters that Europeans could join the peace negotiations once they developed a conscience.
He accused European governments of collectively deceiving Ukrainians while praising the US envoys for what he described as their realism. Medinsky added that Ukraine could join the EU but not NATO, according to the Kyiv Post.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin would first hear from his own delegation before receiving the American assessment and deciding on next steps.
Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov, head of the country’s Foreign Intelligence Service, said the agreed prisoner exchange was the main result of the round, with details still being worked out.
Witkoff and Kushner were due to travel on to Dublin to brief Zelensky, who is attending the ninth European Political Community summit. The gathering is being hosted by Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Speaking alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Zelensky said ending the war without European participation would be both unjust and impossible.
