By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
MOSCOW — President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Thursday, Nov. 12, for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin as Washington intensified diplomatic efforts to end the nearly five-year war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin meeting follows two days of U.S.-mediated negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which concluded Wednesday with an agreement on a major prisoner exchange but no breakthrough on the central disagreements preventing a broader peace settlement.
According to Reuters, Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev welcomed Witkoff and Kushner at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport before accompanying them to the Russian capital for consultations with Putin.
The meeting represents Witkoff’s 10th in-person encounter with the Russian president during the Trump administration’s efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict. The American delegation is also scheduled to travel to Dublin, Ireland, following the Moscow talks to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The diplomatic initiative follows the first direct U.S.-mediated negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in nine months. Representatives from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv participated in the Nov. 10-11 discussions, which addressed territorial disputes, security guarantees, postwar reconstruction and humanitarian issues.
Although the delegations reported some progress, they acknowledged that major disagreements remain unresolved.
Kushner described the Abu Dhabi negotiations as a step toward restoring direct diplomatic engagement between the two countries.
“Bringing Ukraine and Russia back together for the first trilateral talks since February was an important step. The discussions were serious, detailed, and frank. Both countries shared specific ideas to narrow the gaps and find a path to end the war,” Kushner wrote Wednesday on X.
He said American officials had coordinated proposals with Ukraine and European partners before traveling to Moscow.
“In close coordination with Ukraine and our European partners, we have aligned on proposals we will discuss with President Putin in Moscow tomorrow, followed by consultations with President Zelenskyy,” Kushner added, acknowledging that “significant differences remain” between the parties.
The most significant immediate result of the Abu Dhabi meetings was an agreement to conduct another large-scale prisoner-of-war exchange.
Kushner described the proposed exchange as the largest of the conflict to date, saying it would reunite families and help build confidence between the opposing governments.
The agreement has not yet produced a comprehensive ceasefire or settlement of the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
According to The Associated Press, Ukrainian officials welcomed the prisoner exchange as a constructive development but acknowledged that the broader negotiations remained difficult.
The principal obstacle continues to involve control of Ukrainian territory, particularly the eastern Donbas region.
Putin has demanded that Ukraine relinquish control of the entire Donbas region as part of a peace settlement, including territory that Russian forces have not captured. Kyiv has rejected those demands, maintaining that surrendering additional territory would undermine Ukrainian sovereignty and security.
Russia has also sought recognition of its control over occupied Ukrainian territory and additional security arrangements along the border.
With territorial negotiations stalled, American mediators have increasingly focused on postwar security guarantees, reconstruction assistance and potential arrangements intended to prevent renewed hostilities.
Moscow has suggested that it could consider nonaggression agreements with NATO member countries as part of a broader European security framework.
However, European leaders have questioned whether negotiations over regional security arrangements should proceed before meaningful progress toward a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials have similarly emphasized that any agreement must provide credible security guarantees against future Russian military operations.
The diplomatic negotiations have continued despite ongoing fighting. Russian forces have carried out attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, while Ukrainian drones have targeted Russian oil facilities and other installations supporting the war effort.
Neither government has publicly indicated a willingness to accept the other’s principal territorial demands.
Trump has expressed optimism that negotiations could produce an agreement, although previous rounds of diplomacy have failed to secure a durable settlement.
The administration’s current strategy involves separate consultations with Moscow and Kyiv following joint negotiating sessions, allowing American representatives to present proposals and seek additional concessions from each side.
Zelenskyy is expected to receive a briefing from Witkoff and Kushner in Dublin after their Kremlin meeting. Ukrainian officials have indicated that they hope negotiations can produce tangible results before the end of the year.
The Kyiv Independent reported that discussions in Abu Dhabi also addressed Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction and possible international security arrangements, although no comprehensive agreement emerged.
The latest diplomatic effort represents another attempt to move beyond prisoner exchanges and limited confidence-building measures toward a negotiated settlement.
For now, the proposed prisoner exchange remains the principal achievement of the Abu Dhabi discussions, while the Kremlin meeting offers another opportunity to address Russia’s demands and determine whether further negotiations can narrow the differences between Moscow and Kyiv.
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