MOSCOW: Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Russian chief Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday (Dec 2) for high-stakes talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine.
The assembly – preceded by days of frenzied diplomacy from Florida to Geneva to Abu Dhabi – comes as Washington mentioned it was “very optimistic” about ending Europe’s bloodiest battle since World Warfare II.
However Kyiv and its European allies fear that Witkoff, who has been criticised for his dealings with the Kremlin, will but cede floor to Moscow.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Eire on Tuesday, shoring up European assist, with the US-Russia assembly coming at a crucial level for Kyiv.
Russian forces have superior quick in November in jap Ukraine, and Kyiv has been rocked by graft scandals that ended with the resignation of its top negotiator – Zelenskyy’s right-hand man.
Moscow has additionally stepped up drone and missile assaults on Ukraine in current weeks, with Zelenskyy accusing the Kremlin of attempting to “break” his nation.
In Eire, Zelenskyy was briefed by Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov returning from Florida, who mentioned “vital progress” was achieved in US talks however that extra work was wanted on “difficult” points.
Zelenskyy has mentioned he nonetheless expects to debate key points with the US president, together with on territory, safety ensures and Ukraine’s reconstruction.
On Tuesday, he mentioned Moscow’s actual motivation for the US talks was to ease Western sanctions, fairly than pursue peace.
Putin has demanded that Kyiv give up territory Moscow claims as its personal for any deal to be doable.
The diplomatic push comes as Kyiv mentioned that preventing was ongoing in Pokrovsk, the jap Ukrainian city that Moscow has tried to grab for months – regardless of Moscow claiming sooner or later earlier that it had seized the city and planted a flag in its centre.
The autumn of Pokrovsk could be a symbolic win for Moscow, which calls town by its Soviet identify Krasnoarmeysk. On the eve of the Witkoff assembly, Putin placed on navy apparel as his commanders instructed him it had been taken.
“All of us perceive simply how vital” the seize is, Putin mentioned Monday.
Final week, he repeated that Moscow was intent on capturing the remainder of the Donetsk area by drive if Kyiv doesn’t surrender land that it controls.
