- But many European governments are deeply suspicious of the administration’s approach.
State of affairs: 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 participate in the next round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, 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 evening.
Catch up quickly: The talks 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 have met with Putin and Zelensky, creating some momentum.
- Putin agreed to resume peace talks and release US citizen Stephen Hubbard, detained by Russia in 2022.. Along with First Lady Melania Trump and her team, Witkoff and Kushner also negotiated a humanitarian ceasefire in the town of Oleshky.
Driving the news: The talks in Abu Dhabi began Tuesday with Witkoff, Kushner and the commander of the U.S. European Command, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, mediating between the Russians and Ukrainians.
- The sides agreed to a prisoner exchange deal that Kushner and Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said could be the largest since the war began.
- U.S. and Ukrainian officials said the exact number of prisoners to be released would be decided in meetings with Putin and Zelensky on Thursday.
- Before and after the negotiations, the U.S. and Ukrainian negotiating teams briefed a delegation of senior diplomats from Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the EU and NATO.
Behind the scenes: Meetings between Russians and Ukrainians on Tuesday were tense and at times emotional, with both sides airing their grievances after nine months without direct dialogue, according to a source in the room.
- Kushner and Witkoff tried to lower the temperature, telling Russian and Ukrainian negotiators that the goal was to end this round of negotiations with options for leaders on both sides.
- Ultimately, once each side made their case, the discussion became more constructive, the source said.
- “We had some pretty tough discussions,” Kushner said at a news conference following negotiations Wednesday.
- “The Russians came with strict guidelines. It was very difficult to relax them, but it ended productively,” Arakhamia said.
Zoom: The US proposal to agree a new Europe-Russia security architecture as part of a deal to end the war in Ukraine was at the center of the Abu Dhabi negotiations.
- Russian negotiators said Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine because then-President Biden did not respond to his 2021 letter outlining his security concerns, two sources with knowledge of the talks said.
- According to one of the sources, Kushner and Witkoff told the Russians that the world has changed a lot since 2021.
- They proposed that Russia draft a new proposal that includes its security concerns and requirements, but also outlines “symmetrical measures” it is willing to take to de-escalate the situation and reassure Europe that it will not attack in the future.
- Kushner and Witkoff also told the Russians that to seriously discuss security issues in Europe, they must agree to allow European representatives to participate in future peace talks.
- “We told the Russians that they have their desires and their fears, but they also need to come up with different de-escalation and different proposals, if they want Europe to be able to receive these proposals in the right way,” Kushner said at the press conference.
The other side: Russia has so far been reluctant to allow Europeans to take part in peace negotiations with Ukraine.
- “As for the leaders of a number of European countries, they are essentially engaged in collective deception of the Ukrainian people and contributing to the mass deaths of civilians,” Putin adviser Vladimir Medinsky, who led the Russian delegation, said at a news conference after the talks. “Therefore, I don’t understand what we can discuss with them.”
- Always, Medinsky said Russia wanted to reach a broader security arrangement with Europe as part of a deal to end the war.
- “In Ukraine, an abscess simply burst. The whole body needs to be treated, a bandage will not be enough,” he said.
What to watch: The Trump administration wants to simultaneously negotiate a new security architecture between Europe and Russia and a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. But implementing a security system would only This will happen after a deal to end the war is reached, according to a source familiar with White House thinking.
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said before the negotiations in Abu Dhabi that Europe would only discuss a new security architecture after the end of the war in Ukraine.
- But two informed sources said European officials in Abu Dhabi this week agreed to engage on both fronts simultaneously, while stressing that final decisions on the European security architecture would only be made after the end of the war in Ukraine.
- The United States hopes that by giving European representatives a seat at the peace talks, its governments will be more willing to discuss and agree to a broader security deal before the war ends.
- “Zelensky will not agree to a deal until he knows what will happen next in terms of security guarantees, and Putin wants to know that too. That is why the security issue is so important,” the source said.
- The source added that the United States has made it clear to European countries that it will not agree to a security agreement with Russia without the participation of Europe and Ukraine. The United States would also not veto Russia over Europe’s security considerations, the source said.
The bottom line: Security will be a key issue at the summit of EU leaders in Dublin later this week. European diplomats said the idea of a security agreement between Russia and Europe still faces much resistance and unanswered questions.
Gn world
