Witkoff and Kushner shuttle between Zelensky and Putin
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Al Jazeera, Africanews and Dakaractu
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Vladimir Putin in Moscow after two days of Russia-Ukraine talks in the United Arab Emirates. They are seeking to bring Moscow and Kyiv closer to a peace deal, while Volodymyr Zelensky says he hopes for a window of opportunity to reach a ceasefire before 2027, reports Al Jazeera.
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Thursday morning to meet Vladimir Putin, before travelling to Dublin to meet Volodymyr Zelensky. They were received at Vnukovo Airport by Russian President’s special representative Kirill Dmitriev, and their convoy left the airport at 05:00 GMT, according to footage obtained by AFP and Russian television.
Volodymyr Zelensky said a "window of opportunity" could make it possible to reach a ceasefire before 2027. In Dublin, he said he hoped the US envoys would return from Moscow with "concrete elements", while expressing scepticism about the outcome of the talks.
The two days of direct negotiations in Abu Dhabi, the first between the two sides in more than eight months, resulted in a new large-scale prisoner exchange. The Russian and Ukrainian delegations nevertheless remain at odds over Europe’s role in continuing the talks.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the talks in the United Arab Emirates showed that the United States, Ukraine and Europe were "totally aligned and united". Zelensky also welcomed a change in the US tone on European participation in the talks.
