Witkoff and Kushner Meet Putin at the Kremlin as U.S. Pushes to Bring Europe Into Ukraine Peace Talks
The two-hour meeting followed two days of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi that produced a prisoner exchange deal but no ceasefire. The envoys head next to Dublin to brief President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday, in a two-hour session at the Senate Palace, as Washington tried to build on two days of U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi.
The Abu Dhabi talks, the first direct discussions between Moscow and Kyiv in nine months, ended Wednesday with no breakthrough on a ceasefire, territory or security guarantees. The one concrete result was an agreement on a large prisoner exchange, with the exact number still to be announced. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has spoken of 1,000 to 1,500 prisoners on each side, and Russian officials said more than 1,000 per side would be handed over within two to three weeks.
Europe at the table
Kushner said one goal of the Moscow meeting was to get Putin’s agreement for European representatives to join the talks, which are now looking at wider European security arrangements. The United States and Zelenskyy want Europe to name a single person to negotiate with Moscow. Russia has resisted European involvement, saying European governments finance and supply Ukraine’s military effort. Witkoff said a European representative would be present at the next stage.
Putin told the envoys that any European troops sent to Ukraine after a ceasefire would be “absolutely unacceptable” and that Russia would treat them as legitimate targets. “In other words, the war would resume immediately,” he said. He also said Russia regards its border with Ukraine as sealed by a prospective peace deal covering the four regions Moscow annexed in 2022 but never fully controlled.
Zelenskyy briefed in Dublin as fighting goes on
From Moscow, the envoys were due to fly to Dublin to brief Zelenskyy, who was attending a European Political Community summit of more than 40 countries. Zelenskyy said political changes, including Democrats taking control of the U.S. Congress in January and elections in France next year, could bring “a window of opportunity” for a deal, while insisting Ukraine will not surrender Russian-occupied territory for peace.
Fighting continued through the talks. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 71 Ukrainian drones overnight, and its forces struck a drone plant in Kyiv and three sites producing missile fuel and drone parts around the capital. Russia launched missiles and 123 drones, 73 of them jet-powered, at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said, with hits recorded at 17 locations.
Zelenskyy also said Thursday that Ukraine is facing another slowdown in Starshield, the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service, with drone speeds limited to 161 kph (100 mph). A military investigation found the limits were not random errors, he said. Elon Musk acknowledged that SpaceX had throttled the service in Ukraine for about a week, saying the system could not be used for offensive strikes. In St. Petersburg, a Russian serviceman was killed early Thursday when a bomb in his car exploded as he drove off, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. The Fontanka news outlet reported the victim was a colonel.
Reporting based on coverage by the Associated Press and NPR.
