Kushner says US is now steering Europe and Russia into direct talks

Kushner, Trump's special envoy and son-in-law, posted Saturday that Washington is now focused on putting Moscow and European partners in the same room and prepping the agenda for the next round of trilateral talks. He said several new ideas surfaced in this week's discussions and are being explored — some might produce breakthroughs on their own, others could turn into proposals that close the remaining gaps. The message came after the first round of U.S.-brokered talks between the two countries since February wrapped Wednesday with plans for a new prisoner exchange and more talks, but nothing pointing to a wider peace deal.

Zelenskyy, in remarks embargoed until Saturday, said the U.S. has floated a new security framework for Europe — and he doesn't like the sound of it. He warned Moscow could hijack those talks to weaken NATO and redraw the continent's borders. He also revealed that Washington asked, for the first time, whether Ukraine would pull out of parts of the Donbas that Russia doesn't control if Kyiv were let into NATO. His answer: no territory gets surrendered.

Zelenskyy said he's convinced Putin's real interest is reopening the whole question of European security rather than just ending the war. He called Putin's appetite for redrawing borders a fact, and predicted the Russian leader will raise Finland, Sweden, Hungary and the American troop presence in the Baltic countries. He noted Putin floated similar ideas to then-President Joe Biden in 2021. European leaders have shot back that decisions about their continent's security belong to Europeans, not to Moscow.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is negotiating a comprehensive security package with its partners — potential guarantees from NATO and the European Union, a strong Ukrainian military, financial backing for a set period and a recovery plan. Zelenskyy said that if the U.S. and other NATO partners confirm those terms, he'll put the question to Ukrainian society. He ruled out recognizing occupied territories as Russian, and ruled out neutrality outright, saying enshrining it would require changing Ukraine's constitution.

Kushner said a durable peace needs security guarantees for Kyiv and detailed, actionable postwar arrangements that cut the risk of another war, adding that NATO will stay a critical pillar of European security. He said Trump will only back deals that make Ukraine and Europe safer, and that any final agreement must be signed off by the relevant parties. Next on the calendar: Trump is set to meet Putin next week at a trilateral summit with China's Xi Jinping — though officials say Ukraine's war isn't expected to come up.