Key facts
- Kushner said he and Witkoff will meet Putin in Moscow on Thursday to seek approval for European participation.
- Kushner said Russia and Ukraine agreed a prisoner exchange, likely the biggest since the war began, with numbers to be confirmed Thursday.
- Kushner said the US has relayed to Putin and his team that European representatives must be at the table.
- Kushner said the two days of Abu Dhabi talks were substantive and tough.
Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law who has been mediating talks in Abu Dhabi, told reporters on November 11 that he and White House envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin. They aim to agree a date for the next round of negotiations and to secure Putin's approval for European representatives to join future peace talks for Ukraine.
"We need to have the Europeans at the table," Kushner said, answering a question from POLITICO. "We have relayed to President Putin directly several times and to his team that the only way to get this done is to have them by our side and I think they are receptive to it." He added: "I believe that hopefully tomorrow in Moscow, Steve and I will be successful and President Putin will give the blessing for that to occur."
Kushner also announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to what is likely to be "the biggest" exchange of prisoners since the start of the war. Numbers are set to be confirmed on Thursday, he said. He described the two days of talks in Abu Dhabi as "substantive" and "tough."