Russia and Ukraine exchanged attacks on each other's capitals early on Thursday, hours before U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were due in Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin.
The strikes came a day after two days of U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi ended with Russia and Ukraine agreeing in principle to a major prisoner exchange. Kushner described the swap as the "biggest humanitarian release of prisoners" of the four-and-a-half-year war, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said its scope would be "significant." The numbers are to be decided on Thursday.
The Abu Dhabi meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday were the first direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials with U.S. mediators present since February. U.S. mediators said differences remained on major issues, including territory. Kyiv has strongly rejected Putin's demand that Ukraine surrender the whole of the eastern Donbas region in return for peace.
Kushner said he and Witkoff would travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet Putin before noon, where they will raise the question of adding European partners to the talks. The envoys then plan to fly to Dublin to meet Zelenskyy, who is attending a summit of European leaders there, on Thursday evening.
Washington is also pressing a broader idea, Axios reported: a new security framework between Russia and Europe. The U.S. envoys are expected to ask Putin to submit a fresh proposal addressing Russia's security concerns while outlining measures to reassure European countries, and to urge him to allow European representatives to take part in the next round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
Zelenskyy told reporters in Dublin on Wednesday that Ukraine was focused on achieving progress on an accord in 2026. A Ukrainian drone strike on Wednesday killed an employee of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant at his home, the plant's Russian management said.
