Jared Kushner and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are heading to Moscow for face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the meeting expected on Thursday. The trip follows two days of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi, which ended without a clear breakthrough. Kushner said he and Witkoff want to go over what was discussed there and push for more progress, because he believes there are openings and opportunities. After Moscow, the envoys are scheduled to travel to Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and brief him on where things stand.

Kushner also said an agreement was reached on a prisoner exchange, which was one of the few concrete outcomes to come out of the Abu Dhabi round. He described the territorial question as one of the hardest issues on the table, but said he was confident a comprehensive settlement could still be reached by tackling the other outstanding issues. He added that part of the Moscow agenda is discussing how to bring European countries into the negotiations. Kushner said a direct meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy would be welcome, but that the Russian side wants more progress first. Earlier visits by the envoys to the Kremlin have not produced a final peace deal, so the big question now is whether this one will be any different.