U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, following negotiations in the United Arab Emirates that produced plans for another major prisoner exchange but no breakthrough on ending the war in Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported.

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy, met the Americans at their plane and accompanied them to central Moscow. The visit follows two days of U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, which concluded Wednesday.

Those negotiations were the first direct talks between the two countries mediated by Washington in nine months. The U.S. said differences remained over major issues, including territory, while reporting some progress on post-war security guarantees.

Ukraine has strongly rejected Putin’s demand that it surrender all of the eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace.

Al Jazeera correspondent Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said one objective of Thursday’s visit would be to persuade Putin to bring European countries into the negotiations. Ukraine and the U.S. want European participation, she reported, while Moscow has opposed their involvement.

Shapovalova said the U.S. delegation would also bring an updated peace proposal. She described Dmitriev’s involvement as an indication that the discussions would address some of the more complex issues. No outcome from the Moscow meeting was reported in the supplied account.

The diplomatic push coincided with a European Political Community summit in Dublin on Thursday, where leaders from more than 40 European countries gathered to discuss the continent’s security.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte attended, alongside leaders from European Union countries and other European states, including the United Kingdom. Zelenskyy and his European allies were expected to discuss the Abu Dhabi negotiations.

Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Witkoff are scheduled to meet Zelenskyy in Dublin on Friday after their talks with Putin.

Separately, French Minister Delegate for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said Thursday that the EU would approve further sanctions against Russia on Monday, targeting an additional 150 entities and 50 banks, according to Al Jazeera.

Sources