US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on November 12 for planned talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after Ukraine-Russia-US negotiations in Abu Dhabi ended without a breakthrough. They want Putin to agree to European representatives joining a future round of peace talks on Ukraine.

The visit also comes as Washington seeks to open a separate discussion about Europe’s security arrangements with Russia. The terms of any proposal — and whether Moscow will agree to the envoys’ requests — remain unclear.

Security talks alongside peace negotiations

Axios reported that the US had asked Russia to present a new proposal on European security, including steps Moscow could take to reduce tensions on the continent. The Trump administration wants to negotiate a security agreement between Europe and Russia alongside a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, Axios reported. Implementation of any security arrangements would come only after an agreement ending the war.

Europe’s place in the peace process was already contested in Abu Dhabi. European officials from France, the UK, Germany and Italy, as well as senior NATO and EU representatives, were in the emirate but were not admitted to the Ukraine-Russia talks. Russia also rejected a proposed meeting with EU and NATO representatives.

Limited results in Abu Dhabi

The three countries held two days of talks on November 10 and 11, the first trilateral negotiations since February. They ended without a breakthrough; the main concrete result was an agreement to hold a large prisoner exchange. Kushner said the sides still had a deep lack of trust, though he saw scope for compromise on some issues.

WP.pl, citing a leak published by The Economist, reported that the US envoys had proposed administrative changes to the boundaries of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Kyiv rejected the reported proposal, saying territorial changes would require a constitutional amendment that was impossible during the war.

Kushner and Witkoff are due to travel to Dublin after Moscow and plan to brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. An informal EU summit is scheduled there for November 13, where European leaders are expected to discuss choosing a representative for talks with Russia and Ukraine’s 2027 financing. Whether Putin will accept European participation, or what the Moscow meeting will produce, is not yet known.