Trump envoys to meet Putin in Moscow after latest Ukraine talks end with no breakthrough

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner said Wednesday he and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff would travel to Moscow after talks in Abu Dhabi to end the Ukraine war ended with no clear breakthrough.

“Steve and I are going to travel to Moscow tomorrow to meet with (Russian) President Putin to go over what was discussed today and to try to make more progress on some of the issues that we discussed because we see some openings and some opportunities there,” Kushner said at a news conference in the UAE capital.

The announcement comes after two days of talks between Russian, Ukrainian and American negotiators, as the Trump administration ramps up efforts to end the nearly five-year conflict.

In recent weeks, Trump has announced significant concessions to Moscow, causing consternation in European capitals.

Kushner said that he and Witkoff would try to finalize humanitarian relief and prisoner releases, as well as push to bring European countries into the talks – a multilateral format that Moscow has so far resisted.

The president’s son in law – who acts as one of the country’s top diplomats despite holding no official role within the Trump administration – said he and Witkoff would also travel to Dublin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and discuss peace proposals from the Abu Dhabi talks.

“We’re going to be with President Zelensky to debrief with him and further explore some of the ideas that we that we came up with here today,” Kushner continued.

Speaking about Wednesday’s talks, which concluded after less than two hours, top Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky gave little indication that Moscow’s demands had changed.

“In some areas, we reached a mutual understanding. In others, we did not. This conversation will, without a doubt, continue,” Medinsky said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign intelligence chief and top negotiator Rustem Umerov thanked the US envoys for their efforts while touting progress over certain issues, including security matters.

But it’s clear that sticking points remain between the two sides. Another Ukrainian negotiator, Davyd Arakhamia, said that Russia clearly came to the talks with “very strict directives.”

“I’m in this process since 2022 and I can fairly say that this was one of the toughest ones,” Arakhamia added.