Witkoff and Kushner arrive in Moscow seeking Putin's 'blessing' to bring Europe into Ukraine peace talks

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Thursday morning for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking to build on two days of US-mediated negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi that ended without a breakthrough towards ending the war.

Putin's special representative Kirill Dmitriev welcomed the envoys in a post on X, sharing footage of their arrival at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport.

The talks on 10–11 November produced an agreement in principle on a major prisoner-of-war exchange, but left key differences unresolved over territory, post-war security guarantees and Europe's role in the negotiations.

Kushner said the meeting with Putin would focus on the outcome of the Abu Dhabi discussions and seek Moscow's "blessing" to bring European representatives into the negotiating process.

"We see some openings and some opportunities," Kushner told reporters, adding that the envoys would travel to Dublin afterwards to brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"We've relayed to President Putin directly several times and to his team, that the only way to get this done is to have them by our side. And I think that, they're receptive to it. And I believe that, hopefully tomorrow in Moscow, Steve and I will be successful, and President Putin will give the blessing for that to occur."

For Witkoff, who initially led the Trump administration's negotiations with Russia over Ukraine, this marks his tenth visit to Russia since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.