US Envoys in Moscow for Putin Ukraine Talks
US envoys in Moscow arrived on Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a fresh push for a peace deal in Ukraine.
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff landed at Vnukovo International Airport, where Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy, met them off the plane amid wet snow. The Kremlin talks were expected to take place in the first half of the day.
The meeting will be the tenth time Witkoff has met Putin in person. It follows two days of trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi, which ended on Wednesday with news of another planned major prisoner exchange but no public breakthrough on the wider issues.
US envoys in Moscow after Abu Dhabi talks
This week’s Abu Dhabi talks were the first direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine mediated by the US to try to end the four-and-a-half-year-old war in nine months. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators reported some progress, but the US side said differences remained on major issues, including territory.
Kyiv has strongly rejected Putin’s demand to surrender the whole of the eastern Donbas region in return for peace. With talks deadlocked on land, US mediators have tried to steer the discussion towards postwar security guarantees and reconstruction.
The Ukraine peace deal moved closer after the Abu Dhabi talks, and US envoys had already planned meetings with Putin and Zelenskyy after that round. The envoys are also due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin on Friday, The News reported.
A senior Russian diplomat said on Wednesday that Moscow could conclude non-aggression pacts with NATO member states as part of a new security architecture for Europe. Many European politicians oppose any discussion of Europe’s overall security before real progress on Ukraine, including a ceasefire, is made.
The meeting began at 02:07 pm Kyiv time, with the envoys at the Kremlin since noon. Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation at the Abu Dhabi talks, joined the meeting along with Dmitriev and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. Putin noted progress on the humanitarian track and asked the envoys to convey his gratitude to Trump for arranging contacts between Russia and Ukraine. Kushner said the envoys would brief Moscow on the Abu Dhabi outcome and present proposals already discussed with Kyiv and European officials, and press for European partners to join the talks.
Why the talks matter now
Despite public optimism from US President Donald Trump, there has been no sign of major compromises. Russia and Ukraine traded fresh attacks hours after an earlier Witkoff-Putin meeting, which shows how far the battlefield sits from a deal.
The Moscow visit keeps the diplomatic track alive. Witkoff’s repeated meetings with Putin have become the main channel for the US push, and Kushner’s presence adds Trump’s son-in-law to the effort.
Trump’s Asia tour followed midterm losses, and the peace push now runs alongside a crowded foreign agenda that includes a possible Xi-Trump-Putin meeting.
For Ukraine, the key test is whether the Moscow talks produce anything on territory or security guarantees. So far the rounds have produced prisoner exchanges and process, but not a ceasefire. The Dublin meeting with Zelenskyy will show whether Kyiv accepts the direction the Moscow talks take.
Frequently asked questions
Who arrived in Moscow for the Ukraine talks?
US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
How many times has Witkoff met Putin?
The Kremlin talks will be the tenth time Witkoff has met Putin in person.
What happened at the Abu Dhabi talks?
Two days of trilateral talks ended on Wednesday with a planned major prisoner exchange but no public breakthrough on wider issues, including territory.
What is the main obstacle to a deal?
Kyiv has rejected Putin’s demand to surrender the whole of the eastern Donbas region, and differences remain on territory.
