US envoys arrive in Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin

US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff landed in Moscow on Thursday for discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev met the pair at the aircraft, greeted them with handshakes and hugs and escorted them to central Moscow, according to Russian media footage. Their meeting with Putin was set for 12:00 local time (09:00 GMT) and, after that, they are due to travel to Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Moscow visit follows two days of trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi that ended on Wednesday, which involved the United States, Russia and Ukraine and produced a planned major prisoner exchange but no decisive breakthrough, as reported by officials. The Abu Dhabi talks were the first direct US‑mediated negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in nine months, though the United States said differences remained on issues such as territory while some progress was made on post‑war security guarantees.

Kushner told reporters the United States had seen "some openings and some opportunities" and would try to "make some progress" in the meeting with Putin. He said the delegation would ask Putin to "give his blessing" to invite European representatives in future discussions and urged Europe to "identify one person to speak on their behalf". Vladimir Medinsky, who led the Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi, said all parties had "moved closer to achieving peace" but that "a lot depends on Ukraine, on the position of the United States, and on whether Europe comes to its senses".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking in a statement, said Ukraine’s forces were again facing "systematic" restrictions on the Starshield satellite internet service provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, noting that connectivity problems in October had lasted about a week. He added that the restrictions were "helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes against Ukraine" and said, "We are trying to clear up all circumstances with the American side."

Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova reported that the Thursday visit aimed to persuade Putin to allow European participation, quoting her source as saying "Ukraine and the US want the European partners to be involved while Moscow is adamant about talks without the Europeans, and that’s why they’ve been largely excluded from the process." Audrey Macalpine, reporting from Kyiv, said Ukrainians remain sceptical, noting "Over the past two days, we saw just another prisoner exchange, which has been the case in previous talks," and "When it comes to the negotiations, not much has changed in terms of where these two sides stand," adding "Perhaps the biggest thing of note [in the talks] was that they took place at all." Meanwhile, French Minister Delegate for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad announced that the EU will adopt new sanctions on Monday targeting 150 additional entities and 50 banks, adding that France had proposed the bulk of the additions.