UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and President Trump envoys Steve Witkoff (R), and Jared Kushner (L) attend trilateral talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Photo: UAE Foreign Affairs Ministry Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
The U.S. has asked Russia to submit a new proposal for a future security agreement with Europe that includes Russian steps to ease tension with the continent, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Why it matters: For years, Russia has sought a European security deal that limits NATO expansion and scales back its military presence in Eastern Europe. The U.S. has rejected those demands in the past, but now appears open to them in some form as part of a broader agreement to end the war in Ukraine.
- But many European governments are deeply suspicious of the administration’s approach.
President Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday to reiterate the request. They also want Putin to allow European representatives to join the next round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks, a U.S. official said.
- From Moscow, Kushner and Witkoff are expected to travel to Dublin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday night.
The talks on Tuesday and Wednesday were the first time Ukrainian and Russian officials met with U.S. mediators present since February, when they were suspended due to the war in Iran.
- In recent weeks, Witkoff and Kushner met with both Putin and Zelensky, creating a bit of momentum.
- Putin agreed to resume peace talks and release U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard, who was detained by Russia in 2022. Together with first lady Melania Trump and her team, Witkoff and Kushner also brokered a humanitarian ceasefire in the city of Oleshky.
The talks in Abu Dhabi started on Tuesday with Witkoff, Kushner and commander of the U.S. European Command Gen. Alexus Grynkewich mediating between the Russians and the Ukrainians.
- The parties agreed to a prisoner exchange deal that Kushner and Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said could be the biggest since the war began.
- U.S. and Ukrainian officials said the exact number of prisoners to be released will be decided during meetings with Putin and Zelensky on Thursday.
- Before and after the talks, the U.S. and Ukrainian negotiating teams briefed a delegation of senior diplomats from Germany, the U.K., France, Italy, the EU and NATO.
The meetings between the Russians and the Ukrainians on Tuesday were tense and at times emotional, with both sides airing grievances after nine months of not talking directly, according to a source in the room.
- Kushner and Witkoff tried to lower the temperature, telling Russian and Ukrainian negotiators that the goal is to end this round of talks with options for the leaders on both sides.
- Eventually, after each party made its case, the discussion became more constructive, the source said.
- “We had pretty tough discussions,” Kushner said at a press conference after the talks concluded on Wednesday.
- “The Russians came with strict directives. It was very hard to soften it, but it ended productively,” Arakhamia said.
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