US envoy Kushner says he aims to broker Europe-Russia talks on Ukraine

Europe’s direct engagement with Moscow as part of Ukraine-Russia peace talks is edging closer to becoming a reality.

US envoy Jared Kushner has said he is working with Russia, Ukraine and Europe to advance peace talks to the next stage, including facilitating direct engagement between Europe and Moscow.

Kushner told reporters on Saturday that “both sides” – Kyiv and Moscow – know that compromises will be necessary to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, and that he and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff were now working on the next steps.

US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law’s comments follow peace talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday that failed to reach a breakthrough on ending the war, but resulted in a prisoner exchange.

The prospect of Europe’s involvement in the talks has grown in recent weeks, with leaders agreeing on Friday to send five representatives of European countries to represent the bloc at future peace talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday he did not believe it was possible to think about European security “without Europe”.

The Kremlin has signalled openness to negotiations with Europe, but has criticised a lack of proposals from the bloc.

The five countries attending – France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom – have signalled a readiness to send troops as part of a “coalition of the willing” to secure Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC, said that the Russian “acceptance, as it has been accepted by Jared Kushner of European participation [in the talks], is something that could actually be important”.

“Kushner makes direct reference as well to the issue of security guarantees required by Ukraine, and he makes clear that it would be NATO that would provide these guarantees,” Hanna said.

Moreover, he added, “as negotiators are suggesting, there might be another round of multilateral negotiations to build on what’s been called ‘substantial progress’ in the recent talks”.

In a lengthy post on X on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe must “state clearly” what it wants for the post-war period, “including to the Russians”.

Macron also stated his belief that Ukraine, which has Europe’s largest conventional army, has a key role to play in Europe’s post-war context alongside NATO, which he added is a “place where it fully belongs”.

Zelenskyy said on Friday that US negotiators had asked during the Abu Dhabi talks whether Ukraine would withdraw its troops from its eastern region of Donbas, most of which Russia occupies, in exchange for joining NATO.

The war has raged while negotiations continue. November leaks from Russia’s official statistics agency showed that Moscow’s war effort has so far cost the lives of at least 450,000 soldiers.