Talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the United States envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have ended in Moscow, with the Americans saying three-way negotiations on Ukraine are back on after the latest round of talks in Abu Dhabi finished without a breakthrough.

Speaking to CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen at Vnukovo Airport shortly before leaving Russia, Witkoff said progress had been made during the day. “People didn’t think that we were going to restart trilateral. We’ve restarted it. We’ve set a new meeting,” he said, adding: “This is what President Trump wants to see.” No date or venue for the next round was announced.

Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, described the Moscow session as “very fulsome and detailed discussions on all the topics”, saying they would inform “hopefully the next multilateral discussions”.

Europe’s place at the table

Witkoff also said European representatives would take part in the next stage of the talks. “They’re our partners, and it’s important for them to be involved,” he told reporters. Kushner added that European leaders wanted the war to end “for good” and to secure “a long peace after”.

The Kremlin sounded more cautious. Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, confirmed that trilateral talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States would continue, but he played down the idea of European participation. “They are making every effort to get involved in the negotiations, but, as our president has said, they need to decide whether they want peace or a continuation of the war. So far, all their practical actions point precisely to the latter,” Ushakov said.

Putin himself told the envoys that Russia had “never objected (to) pursuing dialogue” with Europe. “You want this peace to be a durable and lasting one, and I confirm that I subscribe to that, and I’d say more. I want this peace to be eternal, for good,” he said.

The two envoys are now expected to travel to Dublin, where they will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and brief him on the Moscow talks. Zelensky was in Dublin on Thursday for the European Political Community summit, where the Abu Dhabi talks and further sanctions on Russia were discussed.

What the Abu Dhabi talks produced

The Moscow meeting followed two days of talks in Abu Dhabi between Russian, Ukrainian and American negotiators, the first of their kind since February. Kyiv said the talks made progress on some issues but produced no clear resolution. The one concrete result was an agreement in principle on a large exchange of prisoners, although the number of people involved has not been finalised.

The hardest question remains territory. Kyiv has strongly rejected Moscow’s demand that Ukraine surrender the whole of the eastern Donbas region, and the two sides remain deadlocked on where any dividing line should fall.

Ushakov said Putin and Trump would “continue discussions” about Ukraine at a planned bilateral meeting at the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China, later this month, adding that Trump was “personally focused on resolving this issue”.

The diplomacy has brought no let-up on the ground. Russia launched a ballistic missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight into Thursday, killing a woman in Kyiv. Zelensky also warned on Thursday of renewed disruption to Starshield, the military-grade satellite service that is critical to Ukraine’s air defences, saying the restrictions were hampering Kyiv’s ability to shoot down Russian drones.

Sources: CNN | Le Private Banker