US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the war in Ukraine. The visit comes a day after two rounds of trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi ended with an agreement in principle on a large prisoner exchange.

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund, received the envoys at Vnukovo Airport, Sputnik reported.

BREAKING: Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrive in Moscow for a meeting with President Putin. https://t.co/dp4mtgWaZi

— Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) November 12, 2026

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin would meet them on Thursday morning, adding that Moscow is also weighing a possible Putin-Trump meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit.

Kushner said the envoys would brief Moscow on the Abu Dhabi outcome and present proposals the US had already discussed with Kiev and European officials, according to Sputnik. Kushner also reportedly plans to press for European partners to join the talks, saying they “must be at the table,” per Reuters.

Vladimir Medinsky, Putin’s aide and head of the Russian delegation, said the sides agreed in principle on a new large-scale exchange, with the specifics to be announced soon.

Kushner described it as the “biggest humanitarian release of prisoners” of the war, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said its scope would be “significant.” The numbers are due to be settled Thursday, Reuters reported.

Zelenskyy: Our proposal is to swap all Ukrainian prisoners of war for all Russian ones. There are 5,000-plus POWs in Russia and in Ukraine. What is the problem with exchanging them all, so they stop living in those hard conditions? I can't see one. 1/ https://t.co/Czr94IDEvo

— Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) November 11, 2026

Read more: Russia, US, and Ukraine agree on major prisoner exchange

Moscow keeps Europe out of the room

Medinsky said Russia held no talks with the European representatives who were present in Abu Dhabi, insisting the format was trilateral. “We do not really understand their status here,” he said.

He also accused several European leaders of “group deception of the Ukrainian people” by financing and arming one side while contributing to civilian deaths, and said Europe could join once its approach changes.

Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said future rounds must be multilateral and include Europe. Reuters reported that European and NATO officials met US and Ukrainian envoys in Abu Dhabi while the Russian delegation declined to meet them. Kiev’s allies in Europe have become its main source of finance and military support as Washington has scaled back direct aid.

European security, territory remain the sticking points

Medinsky said the central topic in Abu Dhabi was the architecture of European security. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said earlier that the talks would cover collective security guarantees taking effect only after a full settlement, a topic the US raised and Moscow accepted.

On territory, Medinsky restated Moscow’s position that “every inch of our land will be returned to Russia one way or another.”

Kiev has firmly rejected Putin’s demand that it hand over all of the Donbas region. Kushner acknowledged that the sides do not trust each other and that land issues will be the hardest to resolve, while calling the Abu Dhabi round a “good first step.”

Envoys to head to Ireland to see Zelenskiy

After Moscow, Kushner and Witkoff plan to fly to Ireland to meet Zelenskiy, who is attending a gathering of European leaders. Zelenskiy told reporters in Dublin that Ukraine is aiming for progress on an accord this year and that much depends on the format of Thursday’s US-Russian talks.

Ukrainian officials said Russia hit six electricity substations in central Ukraine overnight, and an attack on a market in the Odesa region killed three people. Local officials in Russia’s Belgorod region said a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person.