US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday morning for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special envoy, met them at their plane and took them to central Moscow. Daily Maverick reported that the Kremlin meeting was expected in the first half of the day. It will be Witkoff's 10th in-person meeting with Putin.
The visit follows two days of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, which ended on Wednesday. They produced plans for another major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine. They brought no breakthrough on ending the war. According to Al Jazeera, the US said differences remained on major issues, including territory. It added that some progress had been made on post-war security guarantees.
The Abu Dhabi round was the first direct US-mediated negotiation between Russia and Ukraine in nine months. Kyiv has strongly rejected Putin's demand that it give up the whole of the eastern Donbas region in return for peace. With talks stuck on land, US mediators have tried to steer the discussion towards security guarantees and reconstruction, Daily Maverick reported. It added that, despite public optimism from President Donald Trump, there has been no sign of major compromises.
Al Jazeera's Moscow correspondent Yulia Shapovalova said the US team would bring Putin an updated peace proposal. One goal is to persuade him to let European countries join the process. She said Ukraine and the US want the Europeans involved, while Moscow insists on talks without them. A senior Russian diplomat said on Wednesday that Moscow could sign non-aggression pacts with NATO members as part of a new European security architecture. Many European politicians oppose any discussion of Europe's overall security before real progress on Ukraine, including a ceasefire.
In Kyiv, the mood is sceptical. Al Jazeera correspondent Audrey Macalpine said Ukrainians do not expect results from the Moscow meeting. She said little had changed in the two sides' positions. In her view, the biggest news from Abu Dhabi was that the talks happened at all.
Leaders from more than 40 European countries met in Dublin on Thursday for a European Political Community summit on the continent's security. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also attended. Kushner and Witkoff are due to meet Zelensky in Dublin on Friday.
Europe is also stepping up pressure on Moscow. French Minister Delegate for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad told LCI television that the EU will adopt new sanctions on Monday. He said they will target 150 more entities and 50 banks, and that France proposed most of the entities.