US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday, November 12, for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, following two days of US-mediated discussions with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Abu Dhabi.
Russian news agencies reported their arrival at Vnukovo Airport, where they were met by Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special representative. Dmitriev also welcomed the envoys in a post on X. DW reported that the Moscow meeting was expected to address the ongoing peace effort.
The Abu Dhabi talks produced an agreement for a prisoner exchange, but no broader breakthrough to end the war was announced. Kushner said after the discussions that the sides had agreed to what he called “the biggest humanitarian release of prisoners” and that they would finalize the numbers the following day.
The envoys’ visit to Moscow followed the Abu Dhabi discussions, which lasted two days. The Associated Press also reported the prisoner-exchange agreement and said the talks had not yielded a visible breakthrough toward ending the conflict.
After meeting Putin, Kushner and Witkoff were expected to travel to Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was attending European meetings. The planned stop would bring the US envoys into discussions with both sides after their latest meetings with Russian and Ukrainian representatives.
The diplomatic effort is continuing alongside the war. The prisoner exchange is a concrete outcome of the Abu Dhabi talks, while the parties have not announced an agreement to end the fighting.
Reid Bentley 
Nicole French