On Thursday, US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of their latest initiative for a peace deal in Ukraine.
The Kremlin talks scheduled for this morning will be the 10th time that Witkoff has met Putin and follow two days of trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi which concluded on Wednesday with an announcement of another large-scale detainee swap, though broader peace talks yielded no visible progress.
While this week’s Abu Dhabi talks were the first US-brokered face-to-face peace talks in nine months, Russian and Ukrainian sought to end the four and a half-year conflict with envoys from both sides noting limited headway.
Although US President Trump has projected optimism publicly, meaningful compromises have yet to materialize.
Kyiv has firmly dismissed Putin’s ultimatums to cede the entirety of the eastern Donbas territory in exchange for a truce, and with negotiations stalled over borders, US envoys have attempted to redirect the talks toward long-term security pledges and recovery.
Furthermore, a senior Russian diplomat said on Wednesday that Moscow is prepared to conclude non-aggression pacts with NATO member states as part of a new security framework for Europe, although numerous European lawmakers argue against negotiating the continent’s defense framework until tangible advancements such as a truce are achieved in Ukraine.
