US envoys arrive in Moscow for Russia-Ukraine talks with Putin

What the report says

United States envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the latest US-led effort to advance a peace deal for Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported. Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev met the pair at the airport and accompanied them into central Moscow.

The visit follows two days of trilateral discussions in Abu Dhabi, where negotiators from the US, Russia and Ukraine reportedly made no breakthrough on ending the war, though they did discuss a planned prisoner exchange and broader issues such as security guarantees and territory. According to Al Jazeera’s reporting, key gaps remain, including Russia’s demand that Ukraine give up all of Donbas, which Kyiv has rejected.

Al Jazeera said the US delegation was expected to present an updated peace proposal and to press Putin on involving European countries in the negotiations. The talks come as European leaders met in Dublin for a separate summit focused on regional security, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials in attendance.

The Moscow meeting is significant because it is one of the first direct US-mediated contacts in months and may indicate whether the diplomatic channel can move beyond prisoner swaps and toward substantive peace terms. At the same time, Al Jazeera reported that many in Ukraine remain skeptical that the talks will deliver a major shift, while the EU is preparing fresh sanctions on Russia.