Witkoff and Kushner arrive in Moscow to meet Putin to discuss end to Ukraine war

US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner were due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for talks on a possible way to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump has said he wants to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two but his efforts so far, including a summit with Putin in Alaska in August and meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have not yet brought peace.

A leaked set of 28 US draft peace proposals emerged last week, worrying Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow's main demands on NATO, Moscow's control of a fifth of Ukraine and restrictions on Ukraine's army.

European powers then gave their counter-proposal for peace and at talks in Geneva, the United States and Ukraine said they had created an "updated and refined peace framework" to end the war.

"Ukraine approaches all diplomatic efforts with utmost seriousness – we are committed to achieving a real peace and guaranteed security," Zelenskyy wrote on X on Tuesday. "This is exactly the level of commitment that must be compelled from the Russian side."

PUTIN SEES POSSIBLE 'BASIS FOR FUTURE AGREEMENTS'

Putin, who ordered troops into Ukraine nearly four years ago, has said the discussions so far are not about a draft agreement but about a set of proposals that he said last week "could be the basis for future agreements".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would receive Witkoff and Kushner in the Kremlin later on Tuesday, but he would not be drawn on Russia's "red lines", saying megaphone diplomacy was not helpful. He said they would be accompanied only by an interpreter.

A White House official said Witkoff would be joined by Kushner for his trip to Russia. A convoy of cars believed to be transporting Witkoff and Kushner arrived in central Moscow from Vnukovo airport shortly after a jet previously used by Witkoff landed from Miami.

Putin has said he is ready to talk peace but that if Ukraine refuses an agreement, then Russia's forces will advance further and take more Ukrainian territory.

A Russian source said the Trump administration's attempts to find peace was the best chance to end the war since talks with Ukraine broke down shortly after Russia's 2022 invasion.

Conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014 after a pro-Russian president was toppled in Ukraine's Maidan Revolution and Russia annexed Crimea, with Russian-backed separatist forces fighting Ukraine's armed forces.

Russian forces control more than 19 per cent of Ukraine, or 115,600 square km, up one percentage point from two years ago, and have advanced in 2025 at the fastest pace since 2022, according to pro-Ukrainian maps.

TRUMP, EUROPE, NATO AND BUSINESS WITH RUSSIA

Putin, in video footage released on the eve of Witkoff's visit, hailed what his commanders told him was the Russian capture of the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine as an important victory after a prolonged campaign.

Ukrainian forces were still holding the northern part of the city and had attacked Russian forces in southern Pokrovsk, the Ukrainian military told Reuters.

US officials have put the casualty toll in the war at more than 1.2 million killed or wounded. Neither Ukraine nor Russia discloses their losses. The conflict has also caused widespread destruction in Ukrainian towns and cities and forced many people from their homes.

Since the US draft proposals emerged late last month, European powers have been trying to bolster Ukraine against what they see as a punitive pro-Russian peace that could open up Russia to U.S. investment in oil, gas and rare earths and return Moscow to the G8.

Key Russian demands include a pledge that Ukraine would never join NATO, caps on the Ukrainian army, Russian control of the whole of Donbas, recognition of Russian control of the regions of Crimea, Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and protection for Russian speakers and Russian Orthodox believers in Ukraine.

Ukraine says those would amount to capitulation, and leave it prone to eventual conquest by Russia, though the United States has also floated a 10-year security guarantee for Kyiv.

Witkoff, Kushner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine's national security council, for talks on Sunday at Witkoff's Shell Bay club near Miami. Putin's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev will meet Witkoff while he is in Moscow, Russian sources said.

Ukraine and European powers depict the war as an imperial-style land grab by Moscow, and have warned that if Russia wins the war then it will one day attack NATO members. Zelenskyy says Russia must not be rewarded for a war it started.

Russia has denied any plans to attack NATO, as it denied any plan to attack Ukraine before its full-scale invasion.