US to seek Putin's 'blessing' for Europe to join Ukraine talks

ABU DHABI — U.S. officials will head to Moscow in person on Thursday to ask Russia's Vladimir Putin to give his "blessing" to allowing European representatives to join future peace talks for Ukraine. Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law who has been mediating talks in Abu Dhabi, told reporters he and White House envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Moscow to meet the Russian leader. They aim to agree a date for the next round of negotiations and to secure Putin's approval for Europe to get a seat at the table. "We need to have the Europeans at the table," Kushner said, answering a question from POLITICO. "We have relayed to President Putin directly several times and to his team that the only way to get this done is to have them by our side and I think they are receptive to it. "I believe that hopefully tomorrow in Moscow, Steve and I will be successful and President Putin will give the blessing for that to occur. I think that if he agrees to that we will be able to make a lot more progress on the issues that matter." Kushner also announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to what is likely to be "the biggest" exchange of prisoners since the start of the war. Numbers are set to be confirmed on Thursday, he added. Kushner said that, overall, the two days of talks in Abu Dhabi were "substantive" and "tough."