Putin News: Kushner Says Europe Will Join Next Ukraine Peace Round

European delegates will join the next round of peace talks involving Ukraine and Russia, US envoy Jared Kushner said, after a day of meetings in which he and Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Putin news comes as the talks restart after a months-long pause, though no breakthrough has been reported and Russia has kept its core territorial demands.

A new round with European partners

After speaking with Putin in Moscow, Kushner posted on X that both sides had agreed to widen the next round of negotiations to include European partners. He said the format would allow discussions on postwar European security arrangements alongside territorial issues between Ukraine and Russia. Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, has no official government role.

Putin told the US envoys that Moscow had never been opposed to dialogue with Europe and had never broken it off. He also acknowledged that the two sides view territorial questions differently, calling this a long-running point of contention.

The Kremlin has not given a firm answer on European involvement. On Friday, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin had never refused to engage with Europeans, but he stopped short of endorsing any European representative. European leaders have not yet publicly named a delegate for further discussions.

Mixed signals from Moscow

Earlier this week, Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov appeared to downplay the idea of European participation, saying Europe needed to decide whether it wanted peace or the continuation of the war. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticised the presence of European officials in the UAE city where earlier talks were held, calling it not a "promising approach".

Kirill Dmitriev, Russia's presidential special envoy, took a more positive tone, saying strong European security was an important step for Europe. Ushakov also said Putin and Trump would continue discussing Ukraine at a planned bilateral meeting at the APEC summit in China.

Ground fighting and a prisoner exchange

Zelensky told reporters in Dublin that the recent discussions gave Kyiv hope of ending the war. Speaking with the US envoys, he said a recently agreed prisoner of war exchange would be the largest since the start of the war. Reuters reported that Russia and Ukraine reached a deal on the swap, while the US said a lack of trust was still holding back talks.

The diplomacy has not eased daily attacks. According to regional officials, at least 10 people were killed and 48 injured across Ukraine from Thursday into Friday. Ukraine has also faced disruptions to Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink operated by SpaceX. SpaceX told CNN there had been no change in its service, and in October Ukraine said speed limits had been imposed on Starshield terminals, a decision Trump denied approving while Musk said the Trump administration was responsible.

What we know so far

The next round of talks has been agreed in principle, but no date or European representative has been confirmed. Witkoff said the trilateral format had been restarted and a new meeting set, which he described as what Trump wants to see. Whether Europe takes a seat at the table, and whether either side moves on territory, remains to be seen.